Μύ Jack Black employs his "maniacal" rock god persona for Tenacious D In The Pick Of Destiny. It tells the mythical story of the pseudo rock band he formed in 1994 with balding sidekick Kyle Gass. The comedy shtick divided critics and paying punters were obviously nonplussed as the movie bombed. On the upside, there are some brilliantly offbeat songs to keep you humming a happy tune at home.
Pick Of The Litter
Director Liam Lynch introduces 15 deleted and extended scenes, which include two alternative endings - and we do mean alternative. This is, after all, a film that employs The Devil himself as the key antagonist (aka some bloke called David Grohl). Also among the footage are mundane moments of embarrassment for KG (eg getting "dissed" by a bunch of "fraternity dudes" at a party) and surreal flights of fancy for JB, like getting in a punch-up with his pal who, by the way, is dressed as a giant penis. We're sure Dr Freud would have had a field day with that one... Completing this section is an outtakes reel that sees more of Tim Robbins as 'The Stranger', trying too desperately to be menacing.
Cameras visit the set in a 25 minute Making Of featurette. Black and Gass talk about the tricky blend of story, comedy and song which has taken them almost ten years to work out. Lynch reveals that there were five scripts before this one, each of them failing to harness the "super dynamic energy" of Jack Black. The man himself explains that he isn't playing himself, but "a version of" himself - and one that has delusions of grandeur, according to the director.
Dum-D-Dah
A behind-the-scenes look at what happens in the recording studio reveals that, actually, Black is very serious about his music. It's rather like watching a bunch of students getting together in their parents' garage to change the face of rock music, but with a twist of surreal comic madness. Black pulls bizarre (and vaguely obscene) rhyming couplets out of thin air and within minutes a new song is born. He then deflates that puffed-up air of self-importance in a knockabout music video for Pick Of Destiny. The same could be said for the line-up of inflatable extras who are featured in 'The Making Of' that music video...
In a commentary for the film, Black hardly lets Gass get a word in edgeways. Naturally a lot of nonsense is spoken (and sometimes with words that don't really exist in the English language), but there are occasional moments of insight. For instance, when it comes to writing songs, Black notes that "A lot of the time the best nuggets happen off the top of your ass." In a separate commentary, Lynch talks about his passion for music and the technical challenges he faced e.g. trying to make Santa Monica Beach in Southern California look like Venice Beach in Southern California. That's movie magic, folks.
Destiny calls on DVD, but only for truly devoted Jack Black fans.
EXTRA FEATURES
Tenacious D In The Pick Of Destiny DVD is released on Monday 26th March 2007.
