Professional Motion Picture Production and Distribution NEWS

Los Angeles, CA. (11/08/04) -- November 23rd marks the release of the Rambo Ultimate Edition Collection by Lion's Gate Home Entertainment, featuring "ultimate" editions of First Blood, Rambo: First Blood Part II and Rambo III, along with "groundbreaking interactive extra features." What you won't find in that package, however, are the insights of Cinematographer and author Andrew Laszlo, director of photography of First Blood, whose recently released book It's A Wrap, takes readers behind the scenes on a variety of projects, including First Blood, to illustrate how unforeseen events can impact even the most carefully planned production.

Among the many recollections Mr. Laszlo recounts in his book are some of the ingenious methods which had to be orchestrated in order to create the magic which eventually became movies like First Blood. "It was very, very difficult," he says of his experiences on the First Blood shoot. "We were in British Columbia in some pretty rugged mountainous terrain; the weather was mostly raining, drizzling, overcast, cold, muddy wet. So physically, working on Rambo was very taxing. The chapter in It��s A Wrap focuses not necessarily on how to make movies, but how to make movies in the face of unexpected mishaps and problem solving. Instead of talking about how First Blood was made, I talk about some of the things that were interesting about making First Blood, such as putting the helicopter on a giant lazy Susan made out of 1,000 tennis balls and Stallone getting hurt doing his own stunts. So on and so forth..."

Such insights are every movie lover's dream and It's A Wrap is jam-packed with them. From a top secret trip to Havana with Ed Sullivan during the Cuban Revolution, to near disasters involving The Beatles, Ozzie Davis and Richard Chamberlain, It's A Wrap! gives an insider's view of the filmmaking process and sheds light on the inherent dangers of the industry. It's A Wrap! was published by the American Society Of Cinematographers Press in June of this year and is currently available in bookstores nationwide, making it the perfect companion book to this historical collection's release.

About Andrew Lazlo
Andrew Laszlo's career in film and television spans nearly fifty years. He has traveled extensively throughout the world and accumulated close to forty major feature film, and an equally large number of major television, credits. He is a member of The International Photographers Guild, The Directors Guild of America, The American Society of Cinematographers, The Motion Picture Academy and has served two terms as a Governor of The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. As an author, he has written numerous articles in most of the leading industry publications, as well as the books, Every Frame A Rembrandt a comprehensive study of the making of five of his feature films, Footnote to History, a partial autobiography, and the novels The Seven Graces Of God and The Rat Catcher, released in September 2004.