Looper Theatrical Commentary Track

nice! thanks for sharing!

Classy guy, taking your own trash. Beautiful film, congrats man!

after a lot of views now thru illegal cyberpunk ways - i have come to love certain things about the first half of the film - and have just seen on the bluray list there is lots of kid blue scenes that were not used so i should thank you for that i guess lol - and i can't wait to purchase it - fingers crossed you do another sci-fi soon - we need a claustrophobic snow based sci-fi film as we dont have many snow films at all - looper is amazing - like i said before 2nd best film of 2012 - just behind the shoulder of the mighty ridley scott - and with different cuts over the years i could see looper getting blade runner fame - well done sir - thanks 2012

@yourlocalcinema.com: Derek is confusing movie commentary with movie narration. To clarify, this audio commentary track features the director talking about how the movie was made. It is not a description of the action occurring on-screen, and would not be suitable for helping people with impaired vision understand the action, for which they would need a narration track. Movie commentaries are increasingly common features of DVD and BluRay media, but are quite rare in cinemas. I know of only one other.

This is actually quite common! Almost all popular films are narrated in cinemas - people with sight loss tune in with headphones. Think this is the forst ever done by the director though... Derek http://www.yourlocalcinema.com

@Bryan Levangie: Yes. In thirty years time men in black trench-coats, wearing hats but no neck-ties will find you, bind your hands behind your back and put a hood over your head before sending you back in time so that Rian Johnson can gun you down for that criminally lame joke ;)

@Bryan Levangie: lol

Holy crap I saw looper on 11/3/12! I can't wait till they release this in blue-ray. It definitely belongs in my personal collection.

Rather than leave a bunch of comments aimed at helping others achieve sync in the absence of the Tri-Star logo that Rian mentions, let me summarise my previous comments. His own advice to un-pause the track after the first of whatever production logo begins the movie, at least in the case of the eOne logo at the start of the UK print, does get you pretty close, but still has the commentary running slightly ahead of the action. You can improve the sync by pausing the track near here, where he mentions Joe checking his hairline, and then un-pausing it when you actually see Gordon-Levitt look in the mirror and touch his forehead. But the best sync is achieved at little later by pausing the track at the moment the director points out his mother's cameo appearance at the head of a queue of people waiting in line outside the club Joe's driving his Miata to. He begins by pointing out several women that are not his mom by saying "Not her. Not her. Not her." Pause the track at the moment he exclaims "Her!" then un-pause it as soon as you catch a glimpse of the middle-aged woman in the bronze coloured cocktail dress. It's so fleeting that you'll miss it if you blink. But if you manage it you won't get a better sync than that, honest ;) A good sync makes all the difference, and is well worth the effort to achieve. I found the commentary both entertaining and informative. So may the sync be with you :)

@leekil: it was a textbook initial reaction - most good films need digesting and growing on - especially something as thought provoking as time travel - and you get past the whole wishing this and that and start to work with what you're dealt with as a fan

i watched the film again last night coincidentally - and the 2nd half really is a borderline masterpiece - i just don't like the first half no matter how hard i try (i wish it had more china stuff) - the school bus shotgun scene is the most random scene metafor for the first half of the film - maybe i just dont like kansas city who knows

i hope he has the faith to make his next film more like the epic 2nd half - everything before emily joins the film feels like a completely different movie - guess i will have to wait for the bluray to hopefully find deleted 1st half scenes i would of preferred in the edit - i will say this tho - This is my FIRST rian johnson film and that is a major positive about this - he will of gained a lot of very curious fans (especially us in the sci-fi world) - and we need more sci-fi directors- and what i meant by soundtrack was the band songs that were played not the score - the score by nathan johnson was good - but i didn't like the bluesy rock songs that guested at all - but i guess they make it a bit unique but there is a hard balance between being unique and being likeable. i'd say it's the 2nd best film of the year but it has been an awful year in hollywood history.

Pockets of light is way off. Soundtrack, actors, everything. I guess all we agree with is that we both liked the second half of the movie. What could be better than the guitar intro to "Bright Lights"?

http://i48.tinypic.com/16hotiq.png - i had to

Ipod? ! What's with the apple centric advertisement - do they pay you for this? Or did you mean MP3 PLAYER?

What an outstanding idea. Loved the movie (saw it the weekend it was released) and enjoyed the commentary track during my second viewing today. Great insights into the making of this film, on a variety of levels. Rian talks about the development of the story, points out aspects of the actor's performances, talks about special effects (and how some of the effects relate to the story), he points out hidden easter eggs and makes a few comments that made me laugh out loud. (Pretty funny when you're the only one in the theater suddenly bursting out in laughter). He talks about alternate scenes, different versions of scenes and explains how some of the more complex sequences changed during the editing process. The commentary is interesting on so many levels, that no matter if you're a casual movie goer, die hard film nerd or a filmmaker, you will enjoy it.
Thank you Rian, I really dug this. Very entertaining and educational. Great insights into the process. Hope other filmmakers follow this example.

The 2nd half of this film is far superior than the first - looked like you couldn't decide between making a fast total recall lens flare atrocity or a great slow original farmland sci fi supernatural film - the soundtrack was ZERO SCI-FI and ultimately let the film down for me - could of got a million more convincing actors for the kid blue and abe role - noah segan also looks too much like a young joe which i find annoying out of visual variety - i'd also go so far to say that they should of been removed from the film they had way too much screen time - the china stuff was the only bit from the first half that i seemed to enjoy and it should of had more scenes - emily blunt stole the show and the floating grass scene is what i will always remember from this film. shame you didn't get more of a budget to have good vehicles e.t.c - i was insulted when the voiceover at the start tells me this is called "closing your loop" and "letting your loop run" yet choosing not to explain the stuff that clearly needs explaining - listening to this commentary it sounds like you thought you were making a comedy - so therefore we lost out on a real contender for film of the year

The film should of been sarah's world and have everything else being better city flashbacks e.t.c - overall i was left disappointed with this film based on my trailer excitement and i'd like to see many different director's cut versions with different soundtracks e.t.c.

This is such an awesome idea. I think Looper is the best sci fi film in years and I can't wait to own the film on Blu Ray. I am probably going to go a second time, but might save the commentary for the blu ray, since it sounds like it may not be easy to hear in the theaters. But also, I just really want to see the movie again.

Rian, loved the experience actually ended up watching and listening to the track in the DGA Screening Room in NYC, also think I heard someone else cough after your countdown!

Definitely second the comment that I had to keep turning the volume up and down to be able to hear it properly. Almost wish the track was ducked along with the volume of the movie. Also I'm going to reach out on twitter (I'm @wrmayo), both my dad (TV commercial director) and I (running an audio app startup) have thought of making this as an app so it would automatically sync up and love to chat with you about it.

Rock on and and I loved the movie, already gotten a good handfull of my friends to go see it!

Fantastic commentary

Checked out the commentary track with my second watching last night! It was great and thanks again for doing this!

My only advice for further commentaries would be to try to avoid talking during really loud scenes. In gun fight and explosion scenes, it was just impossible to keep the commentary track audible. I found myself constantly cranking up and then turning down the volume to try to keep up with the dynamic nature of the soundtrack. I was even using the really nice in-ear, sound isolating ear buds (with various sized rubber nubbins) but it was just impossible to hear at times.

Thanks for all the little in-jokes and fun facts and cool tech explanations. Even as a non-film buff I found the commentary to be really enjoyable and hope this catches on as a trend.

OMH Rian, I've just found out about this commentary track and I have more of a reason to go see Looper again (though having liked it the first time was a good one too, :-). This is a really cool idea. Thank for this track and bringing something extra to your art. Cheers.

Is this a looped commentary track? hehe. i kid i kid.

This is an incredible idea and I look forward to not only experiencing it but also sharing it with others who have become instant fans of this wonderful film.

So pumped to try this out tonight. Great idea and thanks for sharing!

Fantastic addition, Rian. Cool insights for the film. I know it's been awhile, but I couldn't help but think how awesome it would be to see one of these done for Brick. Maybe even with Joe added in.

@LandofGregg

I'm so glad you did this. Please make mroe for your future films.

Great commentary, I can't wait for the bluray.

Thank you Rian! This is fantastic. I can't wait to do one of my own in the future!

Went and saw looper for the first time yesterday and followed that first screening with a re-watch with the commentary. It was a really neat experience, but now i have a scatload of questions! You should do another reddit ama specifically on looper after it leaves theaters.

I'm excited to go see the movie again now that I've downloaded the commentary! I saw the movie filming in New Orleans when I was there on vacation and have been looking forward to seeing it in theaters ever since. The set we saw was the street outside Joe's apartment and right away you could tell Rian and his team had a specific vision in mind that was going to turn out really fantastic. It certainly did.