In an interview with SCI FI Wire, David Prior, producer and designer of the DVD release of The Cell, said that viewers can indulge in on the secrets behind the movie's unique visuals. "The strength of The Cell is pretty apparently its visuals," Prior said in an interview. "I wanted to focus mainly on that: What went into the creation of them?"
Prior and his partner Charles de Lauzirika added several behind-the-scenes features about the creation of the movie's visual effects, design and costumes, including the documentary Style as Substance. "There were a couple of really interesting things," Prior said. "I kind of know where digital effects come from ... but I'd never heard of anyone doing a digital makeup job before. In the final scene in the movie--when Jennifer Lopez is in the snow-globe area--they completely did a makeup job on her digitally, and I thought that was pretty amazing."
The DVD also includes audio commentary tracks, an isolated film score and several deleted scenes, including sequences ultimately deemed too graphic for the US theatrical release. "[Director] Tarsem said something, which I recognized immediately," Prior said. "You get so involved in something in the day-to-day production and can easily lose sight of how far you've gone ... and sometimes it's not until the end of the process, when you can watch other people's reactions to what you've done, that you realize, 'No, we've gone a little too far.' ... I don't think he was terribly upset by cutting some of that stuff." The DVD of The Cell was released on Dec. 19.