Paramount Home Media has added prolific indie filmmaker Joe
Swanberg’s latest comedy — a love-affair for all-things Los Angeles — Digging
for Fire to its Nov. 3 DVD release package.
Already in place on that date are a trio of
multi-disc, full-series collections — Californication: The Complete Series
(a 14-disc set), I Love Lucy: The Complete Series (a whopping 33 discs) and a
remastered presentation of Star Trek: The Complete Original Series
(the Enterprise, Kirk and Spock boldly go on adventures spread over 25-discs).
Tim (Jake Johnson — Jurassic World, as Nick in the New
Girl sitcom series, plus such films as Neighbors, The
Pretty One, Drinking Buddies, etc.) and Lee (Rosemarie DeWitt — Rachel
Getting Married, Your Sister's Sister, Kill
the Messenger) are a thirty-something L.A. married couple — with a kid
— who are stressed to the max. So when
the opportunity to house-sit away from their digs to the luxury of a secluded
Hollywood Hills abode comes their way they jump at it.
It would have been the perfect getaway, but the bickering
starts and Tim has to get the family taxes done, so Lee packs up the kid and
heads across town to hang with her parents (cameos by Judith Light and Sam
Elliott). Before she heads out Tim
discovers what appears to be a human bone and rusty revolver … and that
discovery will eventually get the best of him.
Digging for Fire is an “actor’s actor film,” meaning that
Swanberg has his friends populate his films as ensemble players … he’s not
quite there in his art, as say a Robert Altman or a Woody Allen, but that will
come in time. Digging for Fire is a
major milestone along that path (especially as an indie film; The Orchard
handled the film festival and arthouse runs, with Paramount picking it up for
the home entertainment market place).
His set-up here neatly diverges into two storylines.
Lee gets a night off from her three-year old
son, but that doesn’t go as planned as she instead spends the evening with a
sensitive and well-meaning chef (played by Orlando Bloom).
Meanwhile, Tim abandons the taxes in favor of a BBQ, beer
bust and treasure hunt with a trio of his buddies — Phil (Mike Birbiglia), Ray (Sam
Rockwell) and Paul (Steve Berg) — which soon finds more arrivals, including “Max”
(Brie Larson — best know as Kate in the United States of Tara sitcom, plus
such films as Short Term 12, 21 Jump Street, The Gambler, Trainwreck),
winsome beauty that catches Tim’s eye.
Will Tim and Lee survive their L.A. adventure?
That’s the big question … and what of that
rusty gun and the bone?
With Universal Studios announcing a release date for Amy
Schumer’s hit comedy Trainwreck (Nov. 10) this past week,
it was only natural that Comedy Central and Paramount would be all over that
with an Amy Schumer announcement of their own.
Two weeks later, Nov. 24, look for Inside Amy Schumer: Season 3, a
double-disc collection of ten episodes.
Guest stars include the likes of Paul Giamatti, Patricia Arquette, Jeff
Goldblum, Bill Hader (her Trainwreck co-star) and Jerry Seinfeld.
Bonus features include a blopper reel, outtakes, an unaired
sketch titled “Engagement Photographer” and four extended video sessions.
Also added to Paramount’s release calendar this week are
both DVD and Blu-ray editions of Zoo: The First Season. Slated for delivery on Dec. 1, this
13-episode sci-fi series is based on the James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge 2012
novel of the same name and follows the research of zoologist Jackson Oz (James
Wolk — Mad Men, The Crazy Ones, etc.). He’s become convinced that animals are
becoming more and more aggressive in their attacks upon humans … even organized
in their efforts.
Bonus goodies include a video session from the Comic-Con
launch, a behind-the-scenes featurette and more.
