So Darren Aronofsky is not particularly happy with Warner Bros., or their DVD treatment of his most recent film, The Fountain. Apparently they flat-out wouldn’t let him record an audio commentary track. Still, he doesn’t broadcast his displeasure in arm-flapping fashion. Instead, he’s merely done his own commentary track, and posted it on his web site. Score!

Recorded on May 10 in his living room in New York City, the track is a pretty fascinating listen, regardless of what one might think of the film. In talking about the feeling that the science-fiction genre has been hijacked by techno-lust, Aronofsky promises “not to talk too much about what the film is about and clear up any of the questions people have,” but instead just about some of the experiences of making the movie, and its inspiration, from Mayan subculture to enlightenment and reincarnation. Extra great news — you can download the track, save it to desktop, import into iTunes, etcetera. Clearly this, along with a tip of the cap to something like Cameron Crowe’s Led Zeppelin play-along instructions on the “Untitled Bootleg” (commercially available) cut of Almost Famous, augurs great things for the future of artist-audience interactivity, and circumventing corporate gate-keepers.