The Real, No Kidding, We Mean It This Time Director’s Cut
Warner Home Video is going to release a new version of the classic film Blade Runner next fall. This is a new Director’s cut–yes, it’s basically a Director’s Cut of a Director’s Cut. Wait, let me back up… first, the movie Blade Runner comes out in 1982, and director Ridley Scott is unhappy with some of the changes the studio made him put in, most notably a voice-over narration by Harrison Ford. The DVDs come out, and Ridley Scott is asked to put the version he wanted on DVD, except it was a rush job. So now it’s 2007, and Ridley Scott is getting the chance to do it again.
Now I love Blade Runner. I have the Director’s Cut. And in fact, I will most likely buy the new Director’s Director’s Cut, and see it in the theatre, since they say they’re planning to show it theatres again as well (I kick myself for missing the theatrical re-release of 2001: A Space Odyssey in 2001).
But when does a Director’s Cut cross over from being a chance for an artist to restore his original vision that was not realized in the first attempt, to a chance for studio to squeeze a few extra bucks from the audience? A few years from now, are we going to see yet another Director’s cut of Blade Runner?
Blade Runner is not the only film to go through multiple Director’s cut-go-rounds. Das Boot exists in several different versions… a six part miniseries broadcast on German television, a 3 hour Director’s cut on DVD, the original US theatrical release. George Lucas has cleaned up and made changes to the original 1977 Star Wars Another classic movie and released different versions in 1997, 2004, and 2006.
Occasionally, creative battles between directors and studios result in lesser-well known “producer’s cuts” of movies. Brazil probably is the most well known example of this–the Sid Scheinberg “Happy Ever After” version turns up every now and again, and is included in a Brazil Boxed set as a cinematic curiosity. There’s a wonky version of The Road Warrior that has an American accented voiceover at the beginning and end of the movie that is completely out of place against the Broken Hill Austrialian outback backdrop of the movie.
The phrase “Director’s cut” does get over used… movies are edited for a reason, and that is a lot of stuff deserves to be cut. A fair number of movies get released to DVD with some of those scenes put back in just they can put “Director’s Cut” or “UNCUT: TOO HOT FOR THEATRES” on the cover.
Find out more about what version of a movie you’re watching on IMDB.com–just click on “Alternate Versions” on the left side.
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[…] Original post by Mr. Alex […]
I first saw BR when I was probably too young to really appreciate it, although I did enjoy it. I’m looking forward to this new cut. Maybe it’ll turn into a marathon pseudo-trilogy session!
I’ve still gotta check out the Donner cut of Superman II. BTW, now there’s a good story on directors’ cuts and just plain soap opera goodness.
Wikipedia has a decent write up on the whole saga, complete with lots of quotes.