List of films cut over the director's opposition

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At times, movie studios will cut a film, usually to give it a more upbeat ending or to shorten it. Following is a partial list of films cut over the director's opposition.

Year Film Director Notes
1924 Greed Erich von Stroheim Von Stroheim made an extremely long 42-reel rough cut. Under pressure, he shortened it to 24, with the intention of showing it over two nights. Goldwyn producers were still dissatisfied, so Stroheim sent the film to his friend and fellow director, Rex Ingram, who turned it over to his editor, Grant Whytock. Whytock, who had worked with von Stroheim before and was familiar with his style, shortened it to 18 reels. June Mathis, head of the Story Department at Goldwyn, was ordered to cut it even further[1] and assigned a routine cutter named Joseph Farnham the job. Farnham cut it to 10 reels. Stroheim angrily disowned the final version, blaming Mathis for destroying his masterpiece.[2]
1934 L'Atalante Jean Vigo After a disastrous preview, the film was cut from 89 to 65 minutes by Gaumont Film Company. Director Jean Vigo was too ill to defend his work.
1942 The Magnificent Ambersons Orson Welles RKO Pictures cut 40 minutes and shot a happier ending, which was in fact the same as that of the novel on which the film was based.
1951 The Red Badge of Courage John Huston Huston had high hopes for the movie, even considered the original two-hour cut of the film as the best he had ever made as a director. After a power struggle at the top of MGM management, the film was cut from a two-hour epic to the 69-minute version released to theaters, in response to its alleged universally disastrous previews. It was never released as an "A" feature but was shown as a second-feature "B" picture. Both Huston and star Audie Murphy tried unsuccessfully to purchase the film so that it could be re-edited to its original length. Huston did not waste any time fighting over it, as he was focused on the pre-production of his next picture, The African Queen. The studio claimed that the cut footage was destroyed, probably in the 1967 MGM vault fire. Huston was later asked by MGM in 1975 if he had an original cut, as the studio wanted to release. He had actually struck a 16mm print, but, by that time, it had been lost.
1958 Touch of Evil Orson Welles Welles' rough cut was recut and some scenes reshot by Universal Pictures without his knowledge. When he saw the studio's version, Welles wrote a 58-page letter to Edward Muhl, Universal's head of production, detailing what he felt needed to be changed; many of his suggestions were ignored.[3]
1965 Major Dundee Sam Peckinpah Many sequences were cut in post-production, against Peckinpah's vehement opposition. Further cuts were made after a disastrous premiere.
1971 A New Leaf Elaine May After a rumored ten months of editing, May finally showed Paramount Pictures a rough cut thought to be 180 minutes long.[4] The film was taken away from her and given to Robert Evans, who cut it to 102 minutes. As a result, May tried to have her name removed from the film.[4]
1971 Night of Dark Shadows Dan Curtis Just prior to its release, Curtis was forced by MGM to cut 35 minutes, and given only 24 hours to do the job, resulting in an incoherent released version. Fans have sought to see the original Curtis director's cut. After an extensive search, about 16 scenes were found in 1999, but unfortunately without sound.
1973 Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid Sam Peckinpah Peckinpah was excluded from post-production editing, and disowned the theatrically released version, as did other members of the principal cast and crew. A director's cut was released in 1988 (posthumously, as Peckinpah had died in 1984) and is generally regarded as the definitive version of the film.
1984 Once Upon a Time in America Sergio Leone Leone had already cut his original 269 minutes to 229 to appease distributors, but for its American release, it was heavily edited down to 139 minutes against Leone's wishes by the Ladd Company after "disastrous test screenings".[5] It was Leone's last film.
1985 Brazil Terry Gilliam Universal Pictures chairman Sid Sheinberg insisted on dramatically re-editing the film to give it a happy ending and make it shorter, a decision that Gilliam resisted vigorously.[6] Though Gilliam's 142-minute version was shown everywhere else by 20th Century Fox, there was no sign of it being released in the United States, prompting him to take out a full-page advertisement in Variety which said simply:
Dear Sid Sheinberg
When are you going to release my film, "BRAZIL"?
Terry Gilliam[7]

Eventually, Universal released a modified 132-minute version supervised by Gilliam.[8] Sheinberg's 94-minute version was televised and is available on home media.

1997 Event Horizon Paul W. S. Anderson Originally 130 minutes long, Paramount ordered Anderson to trim the film to 95 minutes because test audiences and the studio were unnerved by the gory content. The 35 minutes of deleted footage was apparently lost and Anderson has since regretted trimming the film. Some of the deleted footage appeared in the 2006 DVD release, but were from a poor quality VHS tape. The 130-minute version was reportedly found on a VHS tape by producer Lloyd Levin, as confirmed by Anderson during an interview when he was at ComicCon 2012.[9]
2001 Pootie Tang Louis C.K. Originally a Paramount Classics film titled Pootie Tang in Sine Your Pitty on the Runny Kine, the budget was increased and transferred to Paramount Pictures division.[10] Louis C.K. has stated that he was all but fired from the film during the editing phase. According to him, Ali LeRoi was hired to extensively re-edit the film.[10] Openly agreeing with Roger Ebert's dismissive criticism that the movie should not have even been released, Louis has said that the finished product, though containing parts he enjoyed, was far from his own vision.[11]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Unterburger, Amy L.; Foster, Gwendolyn Audrey (1999). The St. James Women Filmmakers Encyclopedia: Women on the Other Side of the Camera. Visible Ink Press. p. 270. ISBN 1-57859-092-2.
  2. ↑ Ward Mahar, Karen (2006). Women Filmmakers in Early Hollywood. JHU Press. p. 200. ISBN 0-8018-8436-5.
  3. ↑ Lawrence French. "Orson Welles' Memo on Touch of Evil". wellesnet.com. Retrieved September 30, 2012.
  4. 1 2 Gilbey, Ryan (July 4, 2012). "Lost and found: A New Leaf". British Film Institute. Retrieved September 27, 2012.
  5. ↑ Terry Paley (August 3, 2012). "Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America is withdrawn from circulation". The Guardian.
  6. ↑ "I feel every cut Terry Gilliam's Brazil letter to Universal (1985)". June 7, 2012. Retrieved September 27, 2012.
  7. ↑ Gillam, Holly; Connor, Michael (June 15, 2011). "Magnificent Obsessions: The timeless dystopian vision of Terry Gilliam's Brazil". Museum of the Moving Image. Retrieved September 27, 2012.
  8. ↑ Paul Risker (September 18, 2012). "Terry Gilliam Retrospective Part 3: The Maverick Expatriate". eatsleeplivefilm.com. Retrieved September 27, 2012.
  9. ↑ UK Editor (28 August 2012). "Infinite Space, Infinite Terror: A 15th Anniversary Look Back at Event Horizon". Brutal As Hell. Archived from the original on 2012-09-14. Retrieved 2013-10-30.
  10. 1 2 WTF with Marc Maron - Louis C.K. part 1
  11. ↑ Scott Raab (2011-05-23). "Louis C.K.: The ESQ+A". Esquire.
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