Tag: Director’s Cut

Salt still

Salt (2010)

This or That Edition

What editions are available?

  • Theatrical Cut (100 min.)
  • Extended Cut (101 min.)
  • Director’s Cut (104 min.)

The Philip Noyce’s spy movie Salt starring Angelina Jolie was released on DVD and Blu-ray that, interesting enough, included three cuts of the film: Theatrical, extended and director’s cuts. Noyce was involved with all three cuts. Noyce confirmed with the Los Angeles Times his preferred cut:

“The “extended versions,” of course, reference the film’s DVD/Blu-ray, to be released Dec. 21. Like most of the releases in today’s home entertainment market, there are different versions of the film offered, including three separate endings. “My favorite version is the director’s cut extended version, which to me provides the most appropriate ending to the story, because it is an ending yet just a beginning -– and it’s an ending that turns the whole story on its head,” says Noyce.”

Source: ‘Salt’ DVD release stirs Phillip Noyce’s spy senses, LA Times

The director’s preferred edition: Director’s Cut

Comparison of the editions with courtesy of Movie-Censorship.com

List of different editions with courtesy of DVDCompare.net: DVD | Blu-ray

THX 1138 still

THX 1138 (1971)

This or That Edition

What editions are available?

  • Theatrical Cut (86 min.)
  • The George Lucas Director’s Cut (88 min.)

George Lucas’ feature film directorial debut THX 1138 was released in 2004 in a director’s cut billed “The George Lucas Director’s Cut” on DVD. The theatrical cut of the sci-fi cult classic hasn’t been released on DVD nor Blu-ray, and most likely won’t be. In his director’s cut, Lucas made significant changes to the film: new edit, overlapping CGI and newly shot footage.

Bill Desowitz of VFXWorld interviewed ILMs DVD VFX producer Paul Hill and CG supervisor Henry Preston where they talked about the director’s cut and how Lucas was involved in all aspects of the cut:

Bill Desowitz: Lets first talk about the new footage and what it consists of.

Paul Hill: Certainly George went back in and re-edited using some outtakes and other stuff. Because of the Northridge quake, a lot of the original footage was water damaged. Thats why we knew when we went in that we were going to have to do some extensive restoration work. So before I came onto the project, George went through with the editor, picked a bunch of stuff and re-edited it slightly, just to make it more what he wanted.

Later in the interview:

Bill Desowitz: And George must’ve been very helpful in terms of remembering things, such as the main titles were the wrong color.

Paul Hill: Yeah, there are things that he remembers when he shot ithe was never happy with that, he was never happy with this. So we fixed it.

Source: Back to the Future with ‘THX 1138’, AWN.com/VFXWorld

The director’s preferred edition: The George Lucas Director’s Cut

Comparison of the editions with courtesy of Movie-Censorship.com

List of different editions with courtesy of DVDCompare.net: DVD | Blu-ray

Alexander still

Alexander (2004)

This or That Edition

What editions are available?

  • Theatrical Cut (175 min.)
  • Director’s Cut (166 min.)
  • The Final Cut (214 min.)
  • The Ultimate Cut (207 min.)

The life and times of a Macedonian emperor Alexander the Great has never been successfully covered in a movie. Director Oliver Stone tried to pull it off in 2004 with Alexander but failed on his own accord but Stone has since then released three different cuts of the film. And it looks like he’s done. At least for now.

Alexander was panned by critics and tanked at the box office but that didn’t stop Warner Bros and Stone pursuing the dream of finding a good movie in the mess. First there was the director’s cut where most of the homosexual content was edited out. Then the Final Cut was released which is to this date the longest cut and Stone called it his definitive cut. Then to celebrate the 10th anniversary the Ultimate Cut was released on Blu-ray and DVD. In the press release for the Ultimate Cut Stone says the following:

“Originally, I did my best to deliver a thrilling movie on a very brief post production schedule, but was frustrated in the end because I wanted the material to tell Alexander’s story with greater nuance and complexity. I’ve tried throughout this process to achieve what I believe is the appropriate balance between the inner and outer journeys undertaken by this extraordinary man. Free from earlier constraints, I’ve continued to pursue this great story, and I think I have at last achieved a film that tells a story as it has never been told.”

Source: 10th Anniversary Edition of Oliver Stone’s Sweeping Epic “Alexander: The Ultimate Cut” on Blu-ray June 3 from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment

Further more:

The director’s preferred edition: The Ultimate Cut

Comparison of the editions with courtesy of Movie-Censorship.com

List of different editions with courtesy of DVDCompare.net: DVD | Blu-ray

Nickelodeon still

Nickelodeon (1976)

This or That Edition

What editions are available?

  • Theatrical Cut (121 min.)
  • Director’s Cut (125 min.)

Peter Bogdanovich’s show business comedy Nickelodeon tells a tale of a rocky motion picture production in Hollywood in the early 1910s. The actual production of Nickelodeon was quite bumpy as writer-director Bogdanovich set out to make a black and white homage to Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd and Charlie Chaplin with actors Jeff Bridges, John Ritter, Cybill Shepherd and Orson Welles. But instead the theatrical cut was in color starring Burt Reynolds, Ryan O’Neal, Stella Stevens and Brian Keith.

While in production Bogdanovich classed with actors, co-writer W.D. Richter and the studio and was never happy with the theatrical cut. In 2009 Nickelodeon was released on DVD that included the theatrical cut and a newly cut director’s cut. Bogdanovich provides a commentary track for the director’s cut where he states early on:

“…so there were compromises before we started but, we also wanted to make it in black and white, but that was a problem. But now, many years later we have it at least in black and white and four minutes longer than the released version. So, I’m happier with this version than I was with the released version.”

Source: Peter Bogdanovich’s commentary on the Nickelodeon Director’s Cut DVD

The director’s preferred edition: Director’s Cut

Any Given Sunday Still

Any Given Sunday (1999)

This or That Edition

What editions are available?

  • Theatrical Cut (163 min.)
  • Director’s Cut (157 min.)

Oliver Stone’s gridiron drama Any Given Sunday was a fresh and gritty take on American football and ranks among best sports movies ever. The Museum of Modern Art in New York held a retrospective of Stone and his films in 2000 where he premiered a director’s cut of Any Given Sunday. The theatrical cut was never released on DVD until it accompanied the director’s cut on the 15th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray. All the Blu-ray releases around the world are the director’s cut.

When introducing the director’s cut of the film to The Museum of Modern Art in 2000, Stones states the following:

“I had to rush to get the film out in time for football season last December. Then, at the Berlin Film Festival, we premiered a shorter version for the European release. Then I did the airline version, taking out the language, and for the first time, I’ve cut the network version. With all of that fresh, I decided now was a good time to go back and make the ‘definitive’ version that runs 2 hours and 37 minutes.”

Source: Stone Unveils Director’s Cuts of Sunday, Nixon, ABC News

The director’s preferred edition: Director’s Cut

List of different editions with courtesy of DVDCompare.net: DVD | Blu-ray

Mutant Chronicles still

Mutant Chronicles (2008)

This or That Edition

What editions are available?

  • Theatrical Cut (111 min.)
  • Director’s Cut (101 min.)

The 2008 sci-fi indie Mutant Chronicles premiered on VOD in the States in 2008 and got a limited theatrical release a month later. The movie was released in cinemas in the UK and Europe. The DVD and Blu-ray release in the States includes only the director’s cut of the film while elsewhere the theatrical cut was more common on both formats. Director Simon Hunter confirmed with This or That Edition which edition he prefers:

The director’s preferred edition: Director’s Cut

Comparison of the editions with courtesy of Movie-Censorship.com

List of different editions with courtesy of DVDCompare.net: DVD | Blu-ray

The Butterfly Effect

The Butterfly Effect (2004)

This or That Edition

What editions are available?

  • Theatrical Cut (114 min.)
  • Director’s Cut (119 min.)

The psychological thriller The Butterfly Effect was released on DVD where it included the theatrical cut along with a director’s cut of the film. The Blu-ray release also includes both cuts. Directors Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruberon provide a commentary track for the director’s cut where they open up the movie by saying the following:

“We’re really glad that you are seeing the director’s cut and we have the opportunity to show you all the scenes that were not in the theatrical version of the film. Thank God for DVDs.”

Source: Audio commentary by writers-directors Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruberon on The Butterfly Effect Director’s Cut Blu-ray

The director’s preferred edition: Director’s Cut

Comparison of the editions with courtesy of Movie-Censorship.com

List of different editions with courtesy of DVDCompare.net: DVD | Blu-ray

Halloween II

Halloween II (2009)

This or That Edition

What editions are available?

  • Theatrical Cut (105 min.)
  • Unrated Director’s Cut (119 min.)

Writer-director Rob Zombie resurrected Michael Myers and the Halloween franchise in 2007. His reboot of Halloween was trashed by critics but did fairly well at the box office.  The sequel Halloween II was released two years later and was butchered by critics. The movie got a second life when a unrated director’s cut of the film was released on DVD and Blu-ray. Zombie weighs in on his preferred cut of the film on Twitter in 2009:

The director’s preferred edition: Unrated Director’s Cut

Comparison of the editions with courtesy of Movie-Censorship.com

List of different editions with courtesy of DVDCompare.net: DVD | Blu-ray

Sling Blade

Sling Blade (1996)

This or That Edition

What editions are available?

  • Theatrical Cut (135 min.)
  • Exclusive Director’s Cut (147 min.)

In 1996 actor-writer-director Billy Bob Thornton adapted his short film Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade for the big screen as Sling Blade. The film was met with critical acclaim and Thornton won the Academy Award for best adapted screenplay. For its 10th anniversary in 2005 (technically its 9th anniversary) the movie was re-released on DVD with the “exclusive” director’s cut.

The theatrical cut is available on DVD and Blu-ray but the exclusive director’s cut is currently unavailable in the US. But it’s available on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK. Thornton provides a commentary track for the exclusive director’s cut where he says the following when the credits are rolling:

“That’s the way the movie was originally cut. Who knows, you might like the theatrical release better the one you saw it in theaters, I don’t know. But I really appreciate the opportunity to restore some of the cut footage and explain why it was cut and why I liked it and didn’t really want to cut it. I think the easiest way for me to explain what it is like, compare it to a novel. In a novel, you can pretty much write as long as you want to get the story across to people. But more importantly, to get a feeling of the characters, why they do what they do and why they exist in the world they exist in.”

Source: Billy Bob Thornton’s audio commentary on the Sling Blade: Exclusive Director’s Cut UK Blu-ray

The director’s preferred edition: Exclusive Director’s Cut

List of different editions with courtesy of DVDCompare.net: DVD | Blu-ray

Crimes of Passion

Crimes of Passion (1984)

This or That Edition

What editions are available?

  • Theatrical Cut (100 min.)
  • Unrated (107 min.)
  • Director’s Cut (112 min.)

The cult label Arrow Video recently issued a dual format edition of Ken Russell’s Crimes of Passion. The edition includes both the unrated and the director’s cut of the film.  A collector’s booklet comes with the dual format where Paul Sutton writes about Crimes of Passion and includes a quote from a conversation between Russell and him where the director talks about the censorship of the film:

“The (American) censors complained I’d put too much art in the film. I’d bought a few books of erotic art from the corner bookshop, nothing new, most of it a hundred years old and available in every school library, Aubrey Beardsley and Japanese watercolors, and I’d used some of the more famous prints in the film. The censors insisted I took it all out. ‘YOU CAN’T SHOW ART TO AMERICANS!’ If I’d have made a rip-roaring farce about hookers they’d have left it alone, and if I’d made a sadistically violent film for children, and changed my name to [Steven] Spielberg, they’d have left it alone, but because I’d made a serious film for adults, about American sexuality, they cut twelve minutes out and did what they could to damage its prospects. And they succeeded. But it went out uncut on video and went straight to number one.”

Source: Essay Jules et Jim for 42nd Street by Paul Sutton from the booklet of Arrow Video’s release of Crimes of Passion

The director’s preferred edition: Director’s Cut

Comparison of the editions with courtesy of Movie-Censorship.com

List of different editions with courtesy of DVDCompare.net: DVD | Blu-ray