Revisio-News #1: Ayer, Kaige, Snyder
"Suicide Squad," "Farewell My Concubine," and other alternate cuts
The following is a summary of and commentary on recent news pertaining to revisions in the media industry: it covers recuts, reissues, dubs, and other instances of film or TV alteration.
Suicide Squad
David Ayer was again talking up the director’s cut of Suicide Squad (2016) on Twitter recently. The maligned supervillain movie was extensively reshot and re-edited at WB’s urging prior to release due to the negative reception of Batman V. Superman, the previous film in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU).
Ayer initially claimed the theatrical cut was his cut of the movie. But he has since disowned it and admitted he was just being ‘a good soldier’ at the time when promoting the theatrical release.
A few months ago, he apparently screened the director’s cut for a fan of the movie who kickstarted a campaign to “Release the Ayer Cut” on Twitter.
Yet it seemed unlikely Ayer would actually be able to release his cut, given the multiple regime changes WB had undergone since 2016. But he has now indicated that James Gunn is onboard with it coming out at some point in the future once his iteration of the DCEU has taken off.
If so, I’d assume then a potential date might be 2026, which would be the 10th anniversary of the film and 3 years into Gunn’s revised superhero universe.
Farewell My Concubine
The 171-minute Cut of Chen Kaige’s Farewell My Concubine (1993) is getting reissued in 4K, which will premiere in US theaters on September 22. I’ve never seen the movie but am interested in its history. Apparently, it had been censored in China due to its controversial subject matter and cut for US release by producer Harvey Weinstein, though accounts seem to differ in regard to how much the film was shortened. (Depending on who you ask, it’s either 10, 14 or 20 minutes.) I find some of the press releases to be a tad deceptive though. Fact is, the 171-minute cut had been distributed previously on DVD and Blu-Ray, the US DVD release being courtesy of Weinstein’s Miramax. Thus, the only truly novel thing about this reissue is that it’s in 4K.
Sucker Punch
In a recent interview with Letterboxd, director Zack Snyder has spoken about releasing a potential director’s cut of his maligned cult film Sucker Punch (2011). The film already has an extended, R-rated cut available on video, though reportedly this is not Snyder’s preferred cut. The final cut, if released, would supposedly include unused musical numbers and a different ending, one that Snyder compares to the ending of Terry Gilliam’s classic Brazil (1985):
“Brazil was a big influence on the movie as well. I'd say those three movies really - Brazil, Frances, and All That Jazz really were the main influences of the movie. I've never gotten around to doing the director's cut. I still plan to at some point. But in the original ending when Babydoll is in the chair in the basement with Blue - she's already been lobotomized - when the cop shines the light on her, the set breaks apart and she stands up and she sings a song on stage.”
I am not a Snyder fan but I do like his output in general and would be open to seeing the movie when both cuts become available. One thing that’s rather evident to me is that Snyder is someone who plays nice with studios insofar as he’s willing to cut his movies down for theatrical release with the expectation that he will get a longer director’s cut later.* His relationship with Warner at the moment is probably not great given all the stuff thats transpired with Justice League, so Sucker Punch will probably have to wait until the conditions have improved for all involved.
*This seems to have translated to his relationship with Netflix. Per Vanity Fair, apparently Snyder’s original script for the upcoming Rebel Moon would have required a 3-hour runtime. This fact made Netflix film chairman Scott Stuber nervous (as movies under 2 hours seem to perform better on streaming), so Snyder proposed splitting it into two shorter movies of around or under 2 hours. And yet, Snyder still intends to release more violent versions of both parts at a later time, effectively crafting something analogous to family friendly PG-13 cuts for the initial release alongside harder R-rated ones for later. All this suggests that streaming services can (unofficially) operate with length and rating restrictions akin to a traditional studio, the epic-length Martin Scorsese pictures notwithstanding.
Readers, what do you think?
Have you any thoughts on the movies or any interest in seeing the director’s cuts of these pictures?
Is Snyder making too many alternate cuts for your liking? Should David Ayer get his due?
And are there too many 4K ‘restorations’ that don’t really restore anything?
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Great highlights here and discussion in general of alternative cuts! Curious to see director’s cut for Farewell my Concubine. Sometimes it’s interesting when this is done for different audiences. For example, Fruit Chan’s Dumplings is a longer and more political version for Asian audiences and the internationally marketed version is a shorter more horror-focused film. I don’t know of a lot of examples but find it interesting!