“Gran Torino” Rides To Blu-Ray And DVD June 9 From Warner Home Video
(March 31, 2009 – Burbank, CA) – Experience a tour de force this June 9 when “Gran Torino” arrives on Blu-ray and DVD from Warner Home Video. Directed by four-time Academy Award® winner Clint Eastwood (“Million Dollar Baby,” “Unforgiven”), “Gran Torino” follows Walt Kowalski (Eastwood) as he comes to understand certain truths about his soul that have been walled off since the war.
Multiple Academy Award winner Clint Eastwood stars in the drama “Gran Torino,” marking his first film role since the Oscar-winning “Million Dollar Baby.” Eastwood stars as an iron-willed and inflexible Korean War veteran, living in a changing world, who is forced by his immigrant neighbors to confront his own long-held prejudices.
“Gran Torino” is the proud recipient of a Golden Globe™ nomination this year for Best Original Song. “Gran Torino” also won Best Actor (Clint Eastwood) and Best Original Screenplay (Nick Schenk) honors from the National Board of Review. Clint Eastwood was also honored with a Best Actor nomination from Chicago Film Critics Association and the Broadcast Film Critics Association.
“Gran Torino” will be available on Single Disc for $27.95 SRP in widescreen format. The Blu-ray Disc will be available for $34.99 SRP.
On June 9th “Gran Torino” will also be available ON DEMAND through Digital Cable, Satellite TV, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game consoles and it can be downloaded for rental or purchase on iTunes and Amazon Video On Demand. Visit www.thegrantorino.com/ondemand for details.
DVD ELEMENTS
The “Gran Torino” DVD contains the following special features:
• “Manning the Wheel” (RT 9:21) – a look at the American car culture and what it represents to the character Walt and to generations of men.
• “Gran Torino: More Than a Car” (RT 3:55) - Visit Detroit and the Woodward Dream Cruise, an annual parade of vintage cars held at the major cruise center in Detroit during the 50's and 60's. The “Gran Torino” Blu-ray Disc contains the following special features: • “The Eastwood Way” (RT 19:14) – explore the entirety of the film from the dual perspective of the actor and the director.
• “Manning the Wheel” (RT 9:21) – a look at the American car culture and what it represents to the character Walt and to generations of men.
• “Gran Torino: More Than a Car” (RT 3:55) - Visit Detroit and the Woodward Dream Cruise, an annual parade of vintage cars held at the major cruise center in Detroit during the 50's and 60's.
• BD Live: Jamie Cullum music video performance of original song “Gran Torino” written by Clint Eastwood. SYNOPSIS Retired auto worker Walt Kowalski fills his days with home repair, beer, and monthly trips to the barber. Though his late wife's final wish was for him to take confession, for Walt--an embittered veteran of the Korean War who keeps his M-1 rifle cleaned and ready--there's nothing to confess. And no one he trusts enough to confess to other than his dog, Daisy. The people he once called his neighbors have all moved or passed away, replaced by the Hmong immigrants he despises. Resentful of virtually everything he sees--the drooping eaves, overgrown lawns and the foreign faces surrounding him; the aimless gangs of Hmong, Latino and African American teenagers who all think the neighborhood belongs to them; the callow strangers his children have grown up to be--Walt is just waiting out the rest of his life. Until the night someone tries to steal his Gran Torino. Still gleaming as it did the day Walt himself helped roll it off the assembly line decades ago, the Gran Torino brings his shy teenaged neighbor Thao (Bee Vang) into his life when Hmong gang-bangers pressure the boy into trying to steal it. But Walt stands in the way of both the heist and the gang, making him the reluctant hero of the neighborhood--especially to Thao's mother and older sister, Sue (Ahney Her), who insist that Thao work for Walt as a way to make amends. Though he initially wants nothing to do with these people, Walt eventually gives in and puts the boy to work fixing up the neighborhood, setting into motion an unlikely friendship that will change both their lives. Through Thao and his family's unrelenting kindness, Walt eventually comes to understand certain truths about the people next door. And about himself. These people--provincial refugees from a cruel past--have more in common with Walt than he has with his own family, and reveal to him parts of his soul that have been walled off since the war ... like the Gran Torino preserved in the shadows of his garage. THE CREDITS WARNER HOME VIDEO With operations in 90 international territories, Warner Home Video, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, commands the largest distribution infrastructure in the global video marketplace. Warner Home Video’s film library is the largest of any studio, offering top quality new and vintage titles from the repertoires of Warner Bros. Pictures, Turner Entertainment, Castle Rock Entertainment, HBO Home Video and New Line Home Entertainment. About Warner Bros. Digital Distribution Warner Bros. Digital Distribution (WBDD) manages Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group’s electronic distribution services over existing, new and emerging digital platforms, including pay-per-view, electronic sell-through, video-on-demand, wireless and more. WBDD also oversees the WBHEG’s worldwide digital strategy, partnerships in digital services and emerging new clients and business activities in the digital space. Warner Bros. Pictures presents, in association with Village Roadshow Pictures, a Double Nickel Entertainment, a Malpaso Production, "Gran Torino."# # #
• “Gran Torino: More Than a Car” (RT 3:55) - Visit Detroit and the Woodward Dream Cruise, an annual parade of vintage cars held at the major cruise center in Detroit during the 50's and 60's. The “Gran Torino” Blu-ray Disc contains the following special features: • “The Eastwood Way” (RT 19:14) – explore the entirety of the film from the dual perspective of the actor and the director.
• “Manning the Wheel” (RT 9:21) – a look at the American car culture and what it represents to the character Walt and to generations of men.
• “Gran Torino: More Than a Car” (RT 3:55) - Visit Detroit and the Woodward Dream Cruise, an annual parade of vintage cars held at the major cruise center in Detroit during the 50's and 60's.
• BD Live: Jamie Cullum music video performance of original song “Gran Torino” written by Clint Eastwood. SYNOPSIS Retired auto worker Walt Kowalski fills his days with home repair, beer, and monthly trips to the barber. Though his late wife's final wish was for him to take confession, for Walt--an embittered veteran of the Korean War who keeps his M-1 rifle cleaned and ready--there's nothing to confess. And no one he trusts enough to confess to other than his dog, Daisy. The people he once called his neighbors have all moved or passed away, replaced by the Hmong immigrants he despises. Resentful of virtually everything he sees--the drooping eaves, overgrown lawns and the foreign faces surrounding him; the aimless gangs of Hmong, Latino and African American teenagers who all think the neighborhood belongs to them; the callow strangers his children have grown up to be--Walt is just waiting out the rest of his life. Until the night someone tries to steal his Gran Torino. Still gleaming as it did the day Walt himself helped roll it off the assembly line decades ago, the Gran Torino brings his shy teenaged neighbor Thao (Bee Vang) into his life when Hmong gang-bangers pressure the boy into trying to steal it. But Walt stands in the way of both the heist and the gang, making him the reluctant hero of the neighborhood--especially to Thao's mother and older sister, Sue (Ahney Her), who insist that Thao work for Walt as a way to make amends. Though he initially wants nothing to do with these people, Walt eventually gives in and puts the boy to work fixing up the neighborhood, setting into motion an unlikely friendship that will change both their lives. Through Thao and his family's unrelenting kindness, Walt eventually comes to understand certain truths about the people next door. And about himself. These people--provincial refugees from a cruel past--have more in common with Walt than he has with his own family, and reveal to him parts of his soul that have been walled off since the war ... like the Gran Torino preserved in the shadows of his garage. THE CREDITS WARNER HOME VIDEO With operations in 90 international territories, Warner Home Video, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, commands the largest distribution infrastructure in the global video marketplace. Warner Home Video’s film library is the largest of any studio, offering top quality new and vintage titles from the repertoires of Warner Bros. Pictures, Turner Entertainment, Castle Rock Entertainment, HBO Home Video and New Line Home Entertainment. About Warner Bros. Digital Distribution Warner Bros. Digital Distribution (WBDD) manages Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group’s electronic distribution services over existing, new and emerging digital platforms, including pay-per-view, electronic sell-through, video-on-demand, wireless and more. WBDD also oversees the WBHEG’s worldwide digital strategy, partnerships in digital services and emerging new clients and business activities in the digital space. Warner Bros. Pictures presents, in association with Village Roadshow Pictures, a Double Nickel Entertainment, a Malpaso Production, "Gran Torino."