Mike Nelson/EPA/AAPīut Coppola clearly was not done. All along, his response to such criticism has been consistent – he was waiting for technology to catch up to his original vision.įrancis Ford Coppola at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood in 2016. Lucas’s incessant meddling (he returned to the trilogy again in 20) has been seen as a way of perpetually monetising the much-beloved originals. Many resented the retrofitted visuals and jarring CGI enhancements for others, the most egregious alteration – having bounty hunter Greedo now shoot Han Solo first in a Mos Eisley cantina – compromised Han’s character arc from rogue to hero across the trilogy.
There was only one problem – the Special Editions were castigated by fans.
Lucas stuffed the trilogy with reinstated scenes, polished up degraded images and sound and reaped extraordinary success ( US$472 million at the global box office was mightily impressive for a trilogy nearly two decades old).
To coincide with the 20 year anniversary of Star Wars in 1997, George Lucas created a digitally remastered Special Edition (spruced up versions of The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983) followed a few weeks later). He removed the ponderous voice-over from Deckard (Harrison Ford), axed the happy ending and inserted opaque dream sequences that continue to nourish the film’s philosophical ambiguities.īut some directors just do not know when to stop. First released in 1982, Scott oversaw a new version ten years on, and then the so-called Final Cut in 2007 (re-released on Blu-ray in 2017). Ridley Scott’s endless reworking of the science-fiction/neo-noir Blade Runner remains the gold standard. For example, the 17 minutes of deleted footage from James Cameron’s Aliens (1986), since restored to the 1990 Special Edition, are a masterclass in building tension and deepening character. Other director’s cuts improve on the original version by bolstering visual scope, narrative continuity and emotional engagement. The studio requested significant reshoots to lighten the tone and inject more comedy – but the “Ayer cut” only can be accessed on DVD and Blu-ray. Directors who bitterly complained about how studios altered their vision can now go back and showcase the film as it was meant to be seen.įor example, director David Ayer recently acknowledged his original cut of the dark superhero film Suicide Squad was radically different to the studio-sanctioned release. Studio executives will often demand last-minute edits or reshoots if test screenings go badly. "In terms of Dennis Hopper," Coppola concluded, "God knows what he was doing.”Īpocalypse Now Final Cut is available on Blu-ray and 4K HD now.Apocalypse Now turns 40: rediscovering the genesis of a film classicĭirector’s cuts often seek to rectify an injustice. I've had cocaine, but I found it very unpleasant. And often, I stayed up all night trying to rewrite a script. If I smoked a joint, I couldn't fall asleep. I'm sure grass affects different people in different ways. One, it would make me extremely focused, so if I was trying to evaluate a script or write a script, I wasn't thinking of all the things where my feelings were hurt about this or I was worried about that. I found that the effect that the grass would have on me is interesting. "I never took any drugs in my life at all except for some grass. But Oscar-winner did have some fond, focused memories for marijuana.
#Apocalypse now redux vs final cut Patch
Well, Brando saw that, and he proceeded to use that little patch of light as a prop. We were all in it together, but the two great innovators in that thing were Vittorio by choosing to just show a little of him, and Brando by working it as part of his performance."Īs for Dennis Hopper's infamously drug-fueled, improvised performance as a photojournalist fallen under Kurtz's spell-the actor reportedly requested "about an ounce of cocaine" to help with the role-Coppola still claims to not know the worst of it. Whatever he did that would be good and interesting, he should be sure to have it there.Vittorio, brilliantly, just put him in darkness and just had a little patch of light. When he did that, he then proceeded to act with only that part of him. What he's doing is, he's asking where the line cuts. The first thing he would do, I knew this from The Godfather, when he came in to do the shot.the first thing he'll do to me is go. "Vittorio Storaro, he said let's get him up there on Friday and we'll just start fooling around.
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