INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS had its glory at Cannes Film Festival, it came and went and will arrive here in August. The early reviews and twitter buzz showed mixed responses but I’d like to stick with the movie being awesome and having so much dialogue. You would think that the movie’s good to go, ready to hit theaters everywhere but there’s been a development.
Thompson on Hollywood reported that Director Quentin Tarantino might add a scene to the final print..
Brad and Angelina seemed happy, as did an ebullient Quentin Tarantino, although TWC’s 50/50 partner on the picture, Universal, UPDATE: is talking to the filmmaker about returning to the editing room post-Cannes to make some edits that might include adding a scene, says Tarantino, who reminds that the film, at two hours 27 minutes, is well under his contractual final cut length of two hours 48 minutes.
On one hand, it’s hella good to know that we’re going to see more of BASTERDS, more of Nazi-killing business, more Aldo Raine’s speeches, or whatever that newly added scene may be.
On the other hand, it’s a bit confusing.. because over at Tarantino Archives, it’s said that Maggie Chung‘s parts in the movie were cut from the final print for runtime length reasons. Chung didn’t take the exclusion with offense, she’s actually pretty cool about it, we might see her in the DVD.
Then why cut out Maggie Chung but add another different scene? Were her scenes not worthy enough to fill the 2 hours 48 minutes quota?
I asked that question to my friend, Sebastian of Tarantino Archives and even though there’s still no certain explanation, this is his theory.. It is not uncommon for directors to “abuse” Cannes as a testing ground for their movies. After all, most movies screened there arrive without having been test-screened prior to the premiere. Question is will the final theatrical version of Inglourious Basterds be even shorter, snappier (some critics say there was a lull towards the end) and quicker, or will it be longer, thus carrying more weight and giving it maybe more depth?
Sebastian also kindly reminded us that MTV will feature an exclusive look behind-the-scenes footage tomorrow night at 11pm ET. Awesome!
UPDATE: Tarantino Archives has some more theory that explains this mystery additional scene for BASTERDS. Tarantino plans test screenings in US theaters to arrive at a real theatrical cut and a scene right before the already famous La Louisianne scene might be a strong contender for being edited back into the film. Read the complete stuff OVER THERE
