Some lucky firefighters attending the Firehouse World Exposition and Conference in San Diego were treated to a special screening of Ladder 49 Tuesday evening, which featured a lively Question and Answer session with Director Jay Russell.
Russell appeared with actor Kevin Chapman at the screening Tuesday, as well as at the Firehouse Magazine and Firehouse.com booth on the exhibit floor Wednesday afternoon to autograph posters and chat with fans.
Russell spoke to Firehouse.com about the film's success and upcoming DVD release.
The director said he is thrilled with the film's success even though it grossed less than Backdraft. "I'm extremely happy," he said, "especially when you look at how tough the market is out there, and consider that we opened in the fall." He noted that the movie was the number 10 October movie opening of all time and was Disney's number one October opening of all time. He said the film earned $75 million in the U.S and over $100 million worldwide.
Russell said the DVD has features that fans will want to see. The extras include a "Making of" segment about how the movie was made, and Russell's favorite addition - a documentary called "Every Day Heroes," which features real Baltimore firefighters and their families.
He added that the DVD does contain deleted scenes. "I usually don't, because scenes are deleted for a reason," he said. "But in this case there were a lot of really good scenes that just didn't make it for time reasons."
Two of those scenes reference 9/11. In one, Joaquin Phoenix's character comes home from the firehouse and his wife is watching the news on TV. Another scene looks at the aftermath of the attacks, and the response of another firefighter's wife. Russell wouldn
