Across the Universe Recut with out Director knowing!!!

[Justin24]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=bQ6d3m-GFyw
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/31955

Trouble for ACROSS THE UNIVERSE? Studio recuts? Taymor leaving? Lordamercy!

Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. If you're like me, then you'll have really dug the ACROSS THE UNIVERSE trailer that hit the net a couple months back. I'm a big Beatles fan (who isn't?) and the trailer just made me smile.

What made me turn that smile upsidedown was reading in the trades this morning that Joe Roth apparently recut the film without telling director Julie Taymor. Roth is producer on the film, but has also directed such gems as CHRISTMAS WITH THE KRANKS and AMERICA'S SWEETHEARTS... although I actually don't hate AMERICA'S SWEETHEARTS... just don't feel much of anything about it.

Why the recuts? Well, the movie was originally due out in September of '06, so I'm sure that plays a part, but I always have to shake my head when I hear about things like this. There are some filmmakers you hire realizing you're getting the whole package, going all the way to the river with 'em. It's like when Terry Gilliam gets butt-fucked... Did you not know you hired Terry Gilliam to make a movie? Let him make his movie!

I don't want to compare Taymor to Gilliam. She hasn't earned it yet, but she's made some really quality films and what Roth did to her was really shitty.

Normally I'd want to support the filmmaker and blame the studio, but sometimes the studio is right. Look at DONNIE DARKO director's cut vs. theatrical cut. But here I'm finding it difficult to see the studio's side of things. The test screening reviews we got were very positive. They were from a while back, so I'm assuming it was Taymor's work in progress that they saw...

Now, Taymor's threatening to take her name off the film. Yikes. Let's hope a decent film somehow pops out of these two fighting parents.

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

They cut all scenes of Bono with the 'stache..

 

[LMP]

I'll just wait for the Special Edition Director's Ultra Platinum DVD.

aka, the Blade Runner treatment.

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

I'll just wait for the Special Edition Director's Ultra Platinum DVD.

aka, the Blade Runner treatment.

So, a decade in other words...

 

[LMP]

So, a decade in other words...

how long did the Donnie Darko recut take?

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

how long did the Donnie Darko recut take?

That one was pretty quick, like maybe 2-3 years... Blade Runner on the other hand...

 

[LMP]

That one was pretty quick, like maybe 2-3 years... Blade Runner on the other hand...

okay, yeah the Blade Runner thing took forever, I just meant the process it underwent not the time it took.

 

[SpaceOddity]

They cut all scenes of Bono with the 'stache..

Seriously?

 

[mabel]

I don't know the details about Donnie Darko, but was it a similar situation to this with the theatrical cut being something taken completely out of the director's hands (done without his approval)? Or was it more like the studio suggesting changes/cuts, the director making them, then releasing his ideal version later on DVD? I think there's a big difference there. Even if the director is forced to make changes by the studio, if the director is ultimately the one to make them, rather than having the film taken completely out of your hands and recut without your knowledge, input, or (reluctant as it may be) approval.

This whole Taymor/Roth thing seems ridiculous to me. From the NYT article I read, it sounded like they just wanted the film to be shorter. It's not Taymor's cut was 3 hours or anything (a little over 2). I haven't seen it, maybe there is indeed a lot of fat that could go, but I somehow doubt that the Roth, the director us such illustrious films as Christmas with the Kranks and Revenge of the Nerds II would come up with a better cut than a visionary like Julie Taymor!

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

Seriously?

No, I'm just saying what I would have done