Dick Johnson Is Dead
This playful, profound, and immensely moving docu-fantasia by Kirsten Johnson is a valentine to the director’s beloved father, Dick Johnson, made as she is beginning to face the reality of losing him to dementia. Using the language of cinema both to defy death and to confront it head-on, Johnson mischievously envisions an array of ways in which the man she loves most in the world might die, staging a series of alternately darkly comic and colorfully imaginative tableaux interwoven with raw vérité footage capturing the pair’s tender but increasingly fragile bond. Tackling taboo questions of aging, mortality, and grief with subversive humor and surprising grace, Dick Johnson Is Dead is ultimately a triumphant celebration of life, and of the gentle, funny, unforgettable man at its center. Long live Dick Johnson.
DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
- New 2K digital master, approved by director Kirsten Johnson, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- New audio commentary featuring Johnson, cowriter and editor Nels Bangerter, and documentary sound recordist Judy Karp
- New conversation among Johnson and her fellow producers Katy Chevigny and Marilyn Ness and coproducer Maureen A. Ryan
- New interview with sound designer Pete Horner
- New program featuring Johnson in conversation with Bangerter and filmmakers Mike Mills, Michael Moore, Joshua Oppenheimer, and Laura Poitras
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- English descriptive audio
- PLUS: An essay by author So Mayer
New cover photograph by Chris Buck
DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
- New 2K digital master, approved by director Kirsten Johnson, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- New audio commentary featuring Johnson, cowriter and editor Nels Bangerter, and documentary sound recordist Judy Karp
- New conversation among Johnson and her fellow producers Katy Chevigny and Marilyn Ness and coproducer Maureen A. Ryan
- New interview with sound designer Pete Horner
- New program featuring Johnson in conversation with Bangerter and filmmakers Mike Mills, Michael Moore, Joshua Oppenheimer, and Laura Poitras
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- English descriptive audio
- PLUS: An essay by author So Mayer
New cover photograph by Chris Buck
Cast
- Dick Johnson
- Kirsten Johnson
- Isla Sierck
- Jed Sierck
- Felix Torres
- Viva Torres
- Raymond Damazo
- Michael Hilow
- Michael Melton
- Joanne Reiner Tucker
- Ken Tucker
- Laurie McEwan
- Lyn Schildwachter
- Julie Tilton
- Ira Sachs
- Boris Torres
- Dr. Joyce Fogel
- Lolita Hirst
- Kirk Johnson
- Marta Bida
- Simona Vuletic
- Chase DeForest
- Catherine Joy Johnson
- Brett Eidman
- Dick Johnson double
- Michael Fatica
- Dick Johnson dancer
- Mary Page Nance
- Katie Jo dancer
- Fredi Bernstein
- Katie Jo double
- Ana Hoffman
- Singers
- Vasthy Mompoint
- Nicole Tio
- Adi Gonzalez
- Frida Kahlo
- Dexter Buell
- Sigmund Freud
- Kevin Loreque
- Buster Keaton
- Morgan Green
- Billie Holiday
- Ahsan Ali
- Jesus/Bruce Lee
- Samantha Everette Clowes
- Farrah Fawcett
Credits
- Director
- Kirsten Johnson
- Filmed by
- Kirsten Johnson
- Produced by
- Kirsten Johnson
- Producers
- Katy Chevigny
- Marilyn Ness
- Coproducer
- Maureen A. Ryan
- Executive producers
- Megan Ellison
- Editor
- Nels Bangerter
- Music supervisor
- Doug Bernheim
- Music by
- SYZYGYS
- Sound recordist
- Judy Karp
- Written by
- Nels Bangerter
- Kirsten Johnson
- Writing consultant
- Logan Hill
- Associate producer
- Simon Mendes
- Production coordinator
- Joshua Ryan Troxler
- Production managers
- Sarah Seulki Oh
- Nikki Sherritt-Lewis
- Director of photography
- John Wakayama Carey
- Additional cinematographers
- Nadia Hallgren
- Andre Lambertson
- Martina Radwan
- John Russell Foster
- Rick Siegel
- Phantom operators
- John Benam
- Nick Midwig
- Sound recordists
- Mike O’Brien
- Sean O'Neil
- Mark Roy
- Merce Williams
- Kelsey Wood
- Assistant directors
- Kate Branom
- Michael Toscano
- Postproduction supervisor
- Jean Lane
- Assistant editor
- Arielle Davis
- Sound designer/Rerecording mixer
- Pete Horner
- Sound-effects editor
- Joel Raabe
- Supervising colorist
- Seth Ricart
- Art directors
- Jane Ji
- John Lavin
- Production designers
- Nathan Hong Fisher
- Markus Kirschner
- Costume designer
- William Mellette
- Choreographer
- Adam Fleming
- Script supervisor
- Stephanie Serra
- Hair and makeup
- Akemi Hart
- Tara Carrara
- Dawn Tunnell
- Special-effects makeup
- Krystle Feher
- Stunt consultant
- Kemp Curley
- Stunt coordinators
- Michael Hilow
- Tracey Ruggierio
- Stunt performers
- Chad Knorr
- Zack Roberts