A Beautiful Mind: The DVD

---

Head of the Class
by Maximum Crowe
June 28, 2002

A Beautiful Mind, the DVD, is that rare edition that realizes the digital format's full potential. Available in both full-screen and widescreen presentations, the two-disc set contains the Academy Award-winning film plus a plethora of extras, among them feature-length commentaries, numerous deleted scenes, several featurettes, interviews with the cast and crew, and much more. What's more, it's all done with the same intelligence and care in which the film itself was made.

A Beautiful Mind, the movie, loses none of its quiet power on the small screen. Perhaps that's because despite its big box-office take and seemingly Hollywoodized romanticism, A Beautiful Mind is ultimately the very personal story of math genius John Nash's descent into schizophrenic hell and eventual climb out, mainly through the decades of love and support of his wife, Alicia. The finely detailed performances are also still there, namely Jennifer Connelly as the smart, alluring Alicia; Paul Bettany as endearing roommate Charles; the wry Christopher Plummer as Nash's doctor Rosen; and Josh Lucas as Nash's rival-turned-ally Hansen. Ron Howard's clever direction, along with Roger Deakins' lush cinematography and Akiva Goldsman's mostly polished script, all work to give the movie a classy, classic, almost documentary feel.

Still, it's Russell's low-key brilliance in the lead role of Nash that makes A Beautiful Mind what it is -- a fact even the movie's makers would likely agree with, given the amount of time Howard, Goldsman and producer Brian Grazer spend praising the wonder from Down Under. Russell's Nash is a man of both keen intelligence and pain, with healthy doses of heart and humor thrown in. The movie gives Russell a chance to display his greatest cinema talent: the ability to say so much with the slightest glance, a twitch, a smile. It's impossible to say whether it's his best performance ever -- there have just been too many great ones -- but it is his most emotionally complex.

DVD Special Features:

Disc One contains the film, separate feature-length commentaries by director Ron Howard and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, production notes, cast and crew filmographies, and for those with a DVD-ROM drive, a Web link promising behind-the-scenes footage, interviews, and more. On most DVD commentaries, filmmakers often lose sight of just who is listening and why, and instead offer up more technical details than anyone -- ANYONE -- really needs to know. What's normally missing is an obvious passion for the project and insight into their choices as director, producer, writer or actor. But here Howard and Goldsman show how it should be done. Each offers thoughtful discussion of the filming process, the actors, and their choices. Given both men's youthful exuberance on talk shows and award-show podiums, it's at first surprising to find them taking a sober approach to it all. But their comments are always interesting, never boring, and their passion for the film and its subject always shines through.

For Russell fans, the commentaries are also informative: We learn, for example, how he pushed for and largely improvised the scene in which the older Nash interacts with students in the Princeton library, or how it took nine takes to get one apprehensive actress to slap Russell believably, with even him repeatedly telling her to hit him harder. There are also tidbits on the other players: the casting of Bettany, for example, came about largely because of footage supplied by Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential), who had directed him in A Knight's Tale. Connelly, meanwhile, had personal difficulty in playing Alicia as coquettish in her early scenes, considering, as Howard puts it, those are "qualities that she doesn't necessarily respect as a person."

We're also treated to almost 30 minutes of footage not seen in the final film, and unlike most deleted scenes -- where it's obvious just by watching them that they were wisely excised -- A Beautiful Mind's deleted scenes are all fascinating to watch. (Howard admits most of them were cut only for pace or clarity.) Among the best are moments with John and Alicia that don't really advance the story, but nicely show off more of the onscreen chemistry between Russell and Connelly. More scenes involving Nash and his Princeton classmates allow more screen time for supporting players like Adam Goldberg, Anthony Rapp and Jason Gray-Stanford. Christopher Plummer, as Dr. Rosen, has a terrific scene in which he again tries to explain to Nash what is real and what is not. And an alternate, more visually creative screen version of Nash's 1994 Nobel Prize acceptance speech is included, with Howard explaining the process of deciding which one to use in the final film.

The single best new clip is a heartbreaking scene in which we see how even the smallest change in a schizophrenic's often rigid lifestyle pattern can cause confusion and panic -- in this case, the change being Nash's favorite newsstand is replaced one day by a newspaper vending machine.

Disc Two is devoted entirely to extras, including Howard and producing partner Brian Grazer explaining how they became involved with the film and the casting of Russell and Connelly; an interview with screenwriter Goldsman, who admits to writing 75 versions of one scene to get it right; video footage of the real Nash explaining some of his work to director Howard and accepting his Nobel Prize in 1994; scene-specific storyboard comparisons; and a look at the process of aging the actors on screen, during which makeup artist Greg Cannom mentions that Russell wore fake teeth to portray Nash but forgets to tell us why he did. There is even a featurette on the soundtrack, with composer James Horner and singer Charlotte Church.

One of the most illuminating extras is the cool 10-minute discussion of the special effects in the film, some that were so subtle you probably never even noticed them. And there is a 30-minute featurette on the making of the film, as well as post-Oscar interviews with winners Howard and Grazer, Goldsman, and Connelly. Each featurette contains on-set footage -- most of it with Russell, with even a quick shot or two of him signing autographs for fans on the set. There is simply too much to take in on one viewing. It's all fun to watch, though, and shows just how much time and care went into the film's every detail -- and just how much talent there was involved.

A Beautiful Mind is a welcome addition to any film fan's DVD library. Seven months and several controversies after it first appeared in theaters, the movie itself warrants another look. But the DVD extras could make you appreciate what you see even more.