A few months ago I would have said there was no way we'd see see the fabled "Snyder Cut" of Justice League.
Almost as soon as that film was released fans were asking to see Zack Snyder's original cut which was screened for Warner Bros executives and was the point where it was decided to go back and reshoot big chunks of the film. Fans started a long and loud campaign to #releasethesnydercut - which simultaneously raised awareness and raise money for suicide prevention. I assumed it was going to go nowhere.
But then the director posted several screenshots, then a photo of the film canister, and then (possibly due to the stalled movie industry and the need for streaming exclusives) it was announced the film would be released as a HBO MAX exclusive.
Following that fans - DC fans in particular - have been looking for other unreleased cuts to champion in the hopes they too can be released - starting with David Ayer's original cut of Suicide Squad.
This week saw a rumour that a 170 minute cut of Batman Forever is sitting in Warner Brothers vaults.
https://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/threehour-cut-joel-schumachers-batman-exists/
Marc Bernardin was chatting to Kevin Smith on his Fatman Beyond podcast when he announced:-
“I have it on pretty good authority that there exists in the Warner Bros. vault a 170-minute cut of Batman Forever,” Bernardin told his co-host Kevin Smith. “I think that it went much deeper into his childhood psychosis and his mental blocks and that it was a more serious, darker version of that movie that was one of the first assemblies that Joel filed with the studio and they eventually cut it down because they were like ‘it’s too dark for kids. We gotta sell these Happy Meals, so maybe let’s not invest ourselves in the trauma of childhood murder. We’ve got Jim Carrey, let him do some s–t.”
Having looked into the deleted scenes myself I'm a little skeptical that so much was cut from the movie. The current cut is 129 minutes with credits. There are 15 minutes worth of deleted scenes on the DVD/Blu Ray.
There's a sprinkling of little scenes that were definitely shot and cut like Nygma at his Claw Island factory overseeing production of the box, Bruce and Alfred trying to deconstruct a box, and Sugar and Spice trying to exit Nygma's party.
The rest is surely just longer versions of existing scenes. A few extra lines here and there. I imagine lots more ad libbing from Jim Carrey.
Back in 2005 Joel Schumacher did say he'd prepared a longer cut of Batman Forever for the DVD special edition so I do believe that WB have got a longer cut (maybe 170 minutes maybe less) in their vault somewhere). The Richard Donner Cut of Superman II did get released in 2006 so this wouldn't be unprecedented.
Anyway, I was initally a little reluctant to start any petition for Batman Forever so soon after the Justice League one.
Justice League was a movie that was mangled and reshoot and retooled to the point that it was clearly obvious it had been tampered with. Batman Forever was a movie that had a little restructuring at the start (we start with a bank heist rather than merting Nygma) and a subplot about a diary removed. I don't think the changes here did too much damage. The movie plays well as it is. I don't believe the director's cut would be darker. Batman Forever isn't a dark movie. But it might be more complete and a fun alternative viewing experience.
So anyway if you want to see this longer cut of Batman Forever there's a petition you can sign here (not started by me).
Even if you're slightly curious to see it please sign it because Warner Brothers won't do anything without some sort of demand. With HBO MAX looking for exclusive content to entice prospective subscribers NOW IS THE TIME to let them know what content we'd like. The fact that Kevin Smith and Marc Bernardin are talking about this cut raises it's profile and we should capitalise on this before it fades away.
https://www.change.org/p/warner-brothers-release-the-director-s-cut-of-batman-forever
That's one hell of a petition. Sometimes, I know there's a director's cut versions of three Lethal Weapons, witch was good. And there's a long version of The Exorcist, and also Superman I and II. Why are they gonna do a 170 minute version of Batman Forever?
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean. I guess my hope would be "Why not?" If HBO Max starts becoming "the place" to see alternate cuts of movies I would sign up.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you should sign up. Because they are a lot of people signed up already, so why aren't you? I mean, they talked about the director's cut of Batman Forever for years, I mean I watched all four of the Tim Burton/Joel Schumacher Batman movies yesterday, and days ago, I read the comic adaptation of Batman Forever, and it's more like the screenplay itself.
DeleteBesides, they only going to do the effects for it.
ReplyDeleteI think what they're referring to is a workprint/assembly cut, which is not unusual to run long as you're just lining all the pieces together so you can start shaping an refining it. And the quality would very much be like that of the deleted scenes with no post-production, effects, audio, music. From the shooting script, there's maybe 15 or so pages of material cut out. A few lines here and there, the deleted scenes, Riddler running around the circus disguised as a fortune teller, a few other moments. But Bruce getting amnesia, the revelation of the diary, and encountering the bat in the cave, those were the most significant cuts from a plot level. And you can see what was cut. Would I like to see at least some of that worked back in? Sure. It was a nice thread, and the abridged version in the film lacks a payoff. But it still wouldn't fix the underlying issues I have with the story. I'd love to see it, but I wouldn't expect it to be a game-changing revelation.
ReplyDeleteThe Riddler being a fortune teller was The Batchlers'idea before it was rejected. You see, I read The Batchlers' script for BF and I read Batman's dialogue, Two-Face's dialogue, and The Riddler's dialogue in the voices of Michael Keaton, Tommy Lee Jones, and Robin Williams.
DeleteYou see, after watched the film, I watched the deleted scenes of the film and they looked amazing. That's why Warner Bros. and Tim Burton wanted Joel Schumacher to remove those scenes and make it as a living comic book is that they don't want him to do the same mistake he did with Batman Returns, just to make it safe for the mainstream audience to see it in the movie theaters. Otherwise, it is hell to pay.
ReplyDeleteIf you like to see the 170-minute long version of Batman Forever, then this is your chance. Because Val Kilmer, who played Batman/Bruce Wayne in Batman Forever, confirmed it at the DC Fandom.
ReplyDelete