BMW Films' Journal

8:50PM

Does anyone have an mp3 file of that dreamy beautiful song that is played in "The Hire?"

9:35PM - The Hire #4: Tycoon

The Hire #4: Tycoon comic is out.

- SJW

9:09PM - The Hire Comics

Just thought I'd throw this bit out: The Hire comic series is still alive (by some miracle). The Hire #3 comic was just released after some months and #4 SHOULD be coming out in Oct/Nov this year.

Publisher is Darkhorse.

- SJW

8:24PM - Please Participate - Sign This Petition!

Help Stunt performers gain the recognition they deserve!

http://www.petitiononline.com/2006ocsr/petition.html

5:22PM - Question

I just got almost all the film in The Hire series on a DVD, except for the film directed by Wong Kar Wai, which was called The Follow. The reason given for its exclusion is that it's apparently not intended for redistribution after its initial run. So that bummed me out because that episode had been by far one of my favorites in the Hire series.

Does anyone know where I can download it? BitTorent?

5:07PM - bmwfilms expands to comic books

uh, i mean "graphic novels", sorry

http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=44744
login: ad@ad.com
pw: adage1

(if that login doesn't work ask bugmenot for another one)

8:47AM - The Hire - Comic Series

BMW Films is releasing a series of Comic stories, inspired by the original Films - released on a staggered schedule. The first story, Scandal, is in stores already, with Precious Cargo coming out soon.

Just a heads-up.

1:01PM

I love the bmw films to death...

I just hope I'm not the only one that doesn't understand some of them. Does anyone know where I can find like the full story plots for each movie? Or info about each one...

Thanks,
Amber

9:21PM - new :)

does anyone know when the next collection will come out? i'm asking for my dad. thanks!

6:13PM

Dear new-BMW-design-haters,

Thank you for your appreciation of BWM cars and taking care of its prestige and reputation. We are gratefull for your participation and loyalty. But hands off Chris Bangle and new BMW design, you conservative suckers, still living in the 20th century of carts and horse traction. Drive your grandma's fucking Toyotas and stay away from creative and high-quality design.

Welcome to the 21st century!

Respect to Chris Bangle!

Sincerely,
The Undersigned


( - Sign the petition - )


Please copy this text to your LJ

11:57AM - BMW Films DVD

ood news!

BMW Films is accepting orders for the BMW Films DVD

Also: thanks to the gazillions of people requesting "The Follow" after it was taken down over Forrest Whittaker's dispute with BMW, it is now back up and running on their site.

Whoo hoo!

8:31AM - bmw club

dont know if any of you guys are interested..

but theres a bmw club community on lj..

bmwclub

that is all..

1:36PM

I thought "Beat the Devil" was sorta disappointing. Anyone else?

12:09PM - BMW Films - The Follow

eceived quite a bit of email from people who discovered my journal while looking for "The Follow," which BMW inexplicably took off their website.

Found the following from a Wong Kar Wei fan site:

Here's a detailed explanation of why it isn't available, from Mobius Home Video Forum:

...actor Forest Whitaker, who has an uncredited appearance in the short film. One of the reasons Whitaker agreed to appear in THE FOLLOW was with the understanding that it would only been seen on the BMWfilms.com website.

As you already know, a total of five short films were produced by BMW for viewing as part of a promotional internet campaign. Later on, BMW produced a private, in-house limited-edition promo DVD entitled THE HIRE that featured all five of their internet shorts and numerous extras -- and everyone wanted to get their hands on a copy. Due to the high demand, plans were made to release a publically-available DVD promo. And this is when the problems arose -- Whitaker and his agent contacted BMW and requested that THE FOLLOW be removed from any future DVD releases.

Because of the details of his original contract (and personal reasons involving his appearance), Whitaker and his agent COULD -- and did -- make this demand. Remember, THE FOLLOW was initially created solely as an online promo -- releasing it later on as part of a full-fledged DVD edition is a completely different beast than their original "internet only" plans and contracts.

BMW did attempt to re-negotiate with Whitaker -- both monetarily and otherwise -- but to no avail. Whitaker simply wouldn't budge, and BMW had no choice but to comply with his request. That's why THE FOLLOW did not appear on the "Vanity Fair" promo DVD nor later repressings of THE HIRE, and can only be seen online. (With regard to BMW's original "limited edition" DVD, THE FOLLOW was able to be included in that set because it was a private promotional release.)

So there you have it. From what was hinted to me, Whitaker's stance was due to personal reasons more than anything else. As to what those "personal reasons" might be, I couldn't tell you, nor do I want to make any conjectures about it. My understanding of the situation is that BMW could still release THE FOLLOW on a DVD if they edited out Whitaker's scenes, but something that drastic isn't likely to occur -- they want to leave the film as it is. If you're one of the lucky few who managed to grab a copy of the original, unedited promo DVD, be very thankful -- THE FOLLOW isn't going to make an appearance again at any time in the forseeable future.

I've ripped 2 versions of The Follow from the DVD - a skinny 15MB version for those on dialup, and a full-detail 90MB version for those of you with broadband. Can only host it for 48 hours on my server - so keep your eyes on my journal - been having some difficulting properly uploading the film, but will hopefully have it ready for download soon.

11:16PM - Ticker is now playing

Hello guys. My name is Jeff and I'm new to the club. just wanted to say Hi!

I just noticed that the second bmw film is showing on their site. I watched it and was amazed about the Z4 doing the donuts on the dirt :) Anyways, what do you think about this film? Good, bad?

Check it out: http://www.bmwfilms.com/

12:46AM - BMW Films - Ticker

ne week until Ticker is released. Meanwhile, check out its trailer.

The driver rescues a mysterious messenger carrying an even more mysterious briefcase after an ambush on a rural highway. As a helicopter gunman relentlessly pursues them, a game of political intrigue plays out, with an unforeseen ending. Acclaimed new director Joe Carnahan helms Clive Owen, Don Cheadle, and F. Murray Abraham in this thrilling race against time.

11:03AM - The Follow

Does anybody have "The Follow" downloaded that they could make available somewhere for download? It's the only episode on the BMW films site marked 'no longer available'. I just found out about the site a little while ago and am planning to watch all the old ones.

10:14PM - BMW Films Game

s many of you know, BMW seeded an interactive 'game' in their BMW Films - the original short-film series had telephone numbers which, if called, would be answered by voice mails by individuals leaving cryptic (sometimes frantic) messages.

Also a scrap of paper pointing to a wierd URL.

The numbers/urls from the original BMW Film's sub-stories were:

323-856-6322
www.cbmlt.com
212-259-9458
303-752-7077

More recently, I got screencaptures from Hostage, which I'm posting here:






Calling THIS number gets you a voice mail from a woman, who seems to be expecting a call from a "Mister Chang" and instructs the caller to upload information to MothToTheFlame.com whereupon her 'contact in Chicago' will 'ship you the second package.'

MothToTheFlame.com offers two pictures - a closeup map of San Pedro (where "Hostage" was supposed to have happened) and a photograph of the Driver - as well as a link to http://209.46.98.251.

I have only begun to try and parse some of the messages on 209.46.98.251. What sort of puzzle are we supposed to unravel with this game? Is there an M5 for the first person to solve it? (wish!)

Has anybody made any progress toward this game?

8:50PM - More Hire

bmwfilms.com is back for a new set of shorts. It looks like its featuring the stylish z4 roadster.

3:45PM - BMW Films Music

or those who've had difficulty downloading Kazaa or finding BMW Films music - found a site that actually hosts the stuff.

You can find both production notes and the MP3s of 'Unicornio' at http://www.jeffrona.com/reelworldmag/july-aug-2001bmw.html