Commentary: Polish brothers dig through 'Manure'

June 25, 2008 [...] it's nothing like the heat inside the tin-can oven called a soundstage at Melody Ranch Studios here in Santa Clarita, which lies about 35 miles from downtown Los Angeles and just outside the 30-mile studio zone. The comedy, set in 1960s Kansas, revolves around two men -- played by Billy Bob Thornton and Kyle MacLachlan -- fighting over the pooh-pooh business. Art direction is something the two take seriously, and they looked at countless brown varieties, narrowing the scale to 10 browns and using a system of color chips to achieve the film's desired look.

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