Tag: Extended

The highly regarded Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line was one of the most pleasant surprises of 2005. The theatrical cut of the film was originally released on DVD with a special edition extended cut being released later on. The US Blu-ray release includes the theatrical cut of the film but most of the European editions only have the extended cut. Director James Mangold confirmed with This or That Edition which edition he prefers:

@thisthatedition Extended is a cool view cause it’s every idea we wrote and some songs are longer– but theatrical cut is the my favorite.

— Mangold (@mang0ld) July 7, 2016

The director’s preferred edition: Theatrical Cut

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

Writer-director Judd Apatow is known for his lengthy comedies and Funny People is no exception to that. In fact it’s his longest film yet clocking at 146 minutes. The DVD and Blu-ray release of Funny People included the theatrical cut and an extended cut. Apatow confirmed with This or That Edition which edition he prefers:

@JuddApatow Which edition of Funny People do you prefer: Theatrical or Unrated?

— This or That Edition (@thisthatedition) July 7, 2016

I am always an unrated guy. Blu Ray has some amazing docs and additional stand up footage. https://t.co/FfZmw9fLEe
— Judd Apatow (@JuddApatow) July 7, 2016

The director’s preferred edition: Extended Cut

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

The James Mangold directed thriller Identity was released as a special edition on DVD in 2003 where it included a extended cut along with the theatrical cut. The Blu-ray release of Identity only contains the theatrical cut of the film. Mangold confirmed with This or That Edition which edition he prefers:

@thisthatedition I prefer the extended version as it restored a few trims, mainly violence trimmed for MPAA.

— Mangold (@mang0ld) July 7, 2016

The director’s preferred edition: Extended Cut

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

The highly anticipated feature film based on the popular Sex and the City show arrived on DVD and Blu-ray with an extended cut of the film. Director Michael Patrick King opens the commentary track of the film on Blu-ray with the following:

“Hello, this is Michael Patrick King writer, director, producer of Sex and the City The Movie. If I consider the movie that you saw in the theaters a big box of chocolates. This extended version is like you have a box a chocolates and then you lift up the layer and you find another layer that you didn’t expect. Everything I like is in this extended version. There was never reason to cut anything for performance it was just about telling a more tight story. so Sit back, find the extra layer of chocolate and i hope you enjoy every single one.”

Source: Michael Patrick King on the commentary track for Sex and the City on Blu-ray

The director’s preferred edition: Extended Cut

Director Ridley Scott is known for his director’s cuts of film and in the later years a couple of extended cuts have also been released on DVD and Blu-ray. The Cormac McCarthy scripted all-star The Counselor from 2013 was released on Blu-ray with an unrated extended cut that runs 21 minutes longer than the theatrical cut.

The Blu-ray release has a feature called “Truth of the Situation: Making The Counselor” where the unrated extended cut with a commentary from Scott is branched seamless with behind-the-scenes material for total of 216 minutes. There Scott states the following:

“I think I usually I end up with two versions. I end up with the version that goes out and the version that nearly went out. Or sometimes the first cut, if I’m frustrated by the fact that I’ve lost so much, which I am. But I also know what can fly in the theater. I’ve got a pretty good idea of what… When you pass the tolerance level, then you lose the audience. So I also know that the most important thing, not the most important thing, but a very important part of this is to actually make sure that people go and watch the film. That’s the whole point of the business. It is a business. It’s an art. It’s business. It’s commerce. It’s art. Sometime it’s an art, not always.”

“That’s the long version. I hope you like it. You’re seeing some really golden stuff in there that, even though we cut the theatrical version down to just under two hours, if you include titles, there’s some really great relevant stuff here, which is not superfluous. So I really hope you enjoy this. I really enjoyed making the movie.”

Source: Ridley Scott’s commentary on “Truth of the Situation: Making The Counselor”

The director’s preferred edition: Unrated Extended Cut

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

The classic action film Die Hard has spawned four sequels the last three decades and it seems like more are in the pipeline. The fifth sequel A Good Day to Die Hard was released on Blu-ray with both the theatrical and extended cuts. During the opening credits of the extended cut commentary director John Moore says:

“Uhm, we actually shoot Anton in the head in this cut. If you had seen the movie in theaters, you will have seen Anton shot in the shoulder. But because this is the extended cut, or the director’s cut, we wanted to have it more relentless.”

Source: John Moore on the A Good Day to Die Hard extended cut commentary

The director’s preferred edition: Extended

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

Kenneth Lonergan’s sophomore film Margaret was stuck in the editing bay for almost 6 years. It was filmed in 2005 and stayed in post-production the next years due to the director’s problems with his final cut of the film. Multiple lawsuits were filed against the director to release the film and at one point even Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker took a crack at the edit of the film. Margaret finally saw the light of day in 2011 when Fox Searchlight dumped it into two theaters and it grossed almost $50,000 in four weeks time.

Margaret was released on Blu-ray with a theatrical and an extended cut of the film billed as “Kenneth Lonergan’s Never-Before-Seen Extended Cut of Margaret”. But Fox took the cheap route as the Blu-ray release includes both cuts but has the theatrical on Blu-ray but the extended on DVD. Indiewire interviewed Lonergan about the long post-production of the film and his multiple cuts of the film:

Indiewire: The decision to call this an “extended cut” instead of a “director’s cut” seems very deliberate.

Kenneth Lonergan: “Extended cut” is actually accurate. To me, “director’s cut” means that what was released before was somebody else’s cut. That, to me, always implies that what was released wasn’t what the director wanted. That’s just not what happened. The cut that was released was the cut I delivered. They’re both the director’s cut; they’re just different cuts. One of them was just free from the constraints of worrying about the time.

Source: Kenneth Lonergan Discusses the ‘Extended Cut’ of ‘Margaret’: ‘I’m happy to have both versions.’ via Indiewire

The director’s preferred edition: Both

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

The holiday musical drama Black Nativity was released on DVD and Blu-ray in 2014. The musical was later that year re-released on DVD and Blu-ray with an “Extended Musical Edition”. Director Kasi Lemmons confirmed with This or That Edition which edition she prefers:

@thisthatedition extended musical version is closer. I do love the dance.

— Kasi Lemmons (@kasi_lemmons) May 19, 2016

The director’s preferred edition: Extended Musical Edition