The Guardian
Friday 30 August 2019 7
They used to come out
years after the original
- and be quite diff erent.
But now ‘director’s cut’
versions of fi lms such as
Avengers: Endgame are
re-released weeks later –
and the ruse is working.
By Stuart Heritage
A
pocalypse Now returned to
cinemas again this month,
with a self-proclaimed Final
Cut that runs half an hour
longer than the original
version and 20 minutes shorter
than 2001’s Redux cut. Once, the strangest
aspect of this new release would have been
Francis Ford Coppola’s inability to fi nalise his
vision for the fi lm. Now, the weirdest thing is
that it took so bloody long.
Apocalypse Now waited 40 whole years
before returning to cinemas with this new,
defi nitive version. Let’s compare that with
Spider-Man: Far From Home, which came
out almost – but not quite – two months ago.
An extended version is already about to be
released. Same with Midsommar. This also
came out in early July, but that won’t stop
an unrated director’s cut from launching
next weekend. By these standards Avengers:
Endgame is the model of restraint, managing
to wait for two months and two days before
being theatrically revived with a smattering
of new footage.
And – make no mistake – calling it a
smattering is generous. Although it is a little
impolite to compare a work as substantial as
Apocalypse Now with what basically amounts
to a punctuation point in Superheroes: The
Soap Opera, Coppola’s Final Cut continues
the dramatic reshaping of the fi lm that
began with 2001’s sprawling Redux version,
whereas the Endgame re-release include s
what exactly? Six extra piddling minutes of
almost-footage, including a scene where an
unfi nished Hulk with an immobile mouth
rescues some people, a montage of Stan Lee
shooting his cameos and the opening scene
of Spider-Man: Far From Home. That is it.
Two DVD extras and a trailer. That will be
the full price of a cinema ticket again, please.
Refreshments are available in the foyer.Still, it did the job. The Endgame re-release
was a transparently commercial manoeuvre,
cynically willed into existence because the
original run couldn’t quite squeeze past
Avatar to become the highest-grossing fi lm
of all time. Chuck in a handful of scraps- without even integrating them into the
fi lm – in the name of fan service, and bingo:
Endgame just about nosed it.
And where The Avengers go, everyone
else follows. The Far From Home re-release
(containing an unseen four-minute action
scene and three minutes of other fl uff ) is
almost certainly just to squeeze a few more
bucks out of the fans. If it works as well as
Endgame, it could bump the box offi ce tally
up by about $5m , which might be enough to
leapfrog the third Lord of the Rings fi lm in the
all-time chart.
The Midsommar re-release, at least, feels
as if someone has spent some actual time
on it. The director’s cut is about 25 minutes
longer than the version released in June
and, according to those who have seen it,
provides greater character depth and deeper
mythological understanding. Whisper it, but it
might actually be a director’s cut in the truest
sense of the term. This could actually be the
version that Ari Aster wanted to release in the
fi rst place.
You cannot possibly say that about
anything burped out by Marvel. It is
impossible to imagine the Russo brothers
tossing and turning at night, worrying that
audiences might not get to see their complete
artistic vision of having Endgame bookended
with a 61-second advert for a Spider-Man fi lm.
But this is where we are now. Cinemas
are having a rough time of it this year, with
all manner of “tentpole franchise” sequels –
the fi lms that were only made because they
were going to be hits – fl opping enormously.
We knew that audiences didn’t want to see
smaller indies, or character-driven mid-
budget dramas, or anything based on original
properties, but now it appears that they don’t
even want to watch the big bangy spectacle
stuff they’re supposed to like. So what are
cinemas supposed to show instead? That’s
right, infi nitesimally altered versions of the
fi lms audiences literally just went to see.
We should expect to see this happening
more and more now: a blockbuster comes
out at the beginning of summer, and then it
returns in a slightly diff erent form six weeks
later to tide you over until the DVD release.
This is certainly going to be the case with all
future Marvel fi lms, and probably all Disney
and DC fi lms, too. Can’t wait for Wonder
Woman 2? Then you’re going to love Wonder
Woman 2: The Director’s Cut, featuring a
never-before-seen 20-second clip of Gal Gadot
inspecting her boot for dog poo.
Whether this will last is another question.
Audiences are bound to wise up to the
outright cynicism of this practice before long.
And then what will Hollywood do for money?
My guess is that it will keep re-releasing
Endgame once a fortnight until the end of
time, with a new scrap of unused DVD extra
footage bolted on at the start. Why mess with
a winning formula?
So extra
what you have to do in life. This can
just be one fun summer.’” Yet for
many the stakes start high. Some
kids may be having fun. Others are
launching careers. The role of Disney
World in The Florida Project was
poignant, the corporation having long
act ed as a juvenile production line.
Ryan Gosling ( Mouseketeer 1993-
1995 ) is just one graduate; Zendaya ,
star of the wildly successful series
Euphoria, got her break at 13 on the
Disney Channel sitcom Shake It Up.
Economics matter. Gosling,
raised in a single parent family, has
talked of his headstart as a fi nancial
godsend. But the role of parents
in the story of the child star can be
complex, arranged on a spectrum
with loving support at one end
and pathology the other. Culkin
used a rare interview on actor Marc
Maron’s podcast, WTF, last year to
defend his childhood friendship
with Michael Jackson and off ered
to show Maron the scars left by his
father, Kit. Parents require as much
scrutiny in auditions as children.
“If I feel the success of the child is
more important to them than the
continuation of a good childhood,”
Abrahamson says, “I would not feel
comfortable casting the kid.”
Whatever drives a child to start
acting, it can leave them deeply
vulnerable. Money explains a lot
of adult cruelties – Garland was fed
amphetamines by MGM to keep her
clocking up 72-hour shifts – but even
money can be a veil for other motives.
The fi lm-maker relies on everyday
solutions – to use talent agencies
with spotless reputations; to talk and
talk again to parents. Baig proposes
a checklist touching in its simplicity- let children know if they haven’t
got through an audition; ensure
those who do understand it might
never happen again; have someone
checking teenage actors are eating
properly. “And don’t disappear on
them after the fi lm comes out.”
Abrahamson is unsure if the
movies have reformed. “Where there
are power imbalances, the danger
of abuse will always be there.” But,
he says, #MeToo has made toxic
behaviour of all kinds less accept able.
I ask if he would let his own children
act in fi lms. One already wants to, he
replies. “Like any sane parent, that
scares me. But I will support her.”
Prince and Tremblay have been
busy. Prince, nine this year, is to
star in Home Before Dark , the new
Apple series about the real-life pre-
teen news reporter Hilde Lysiak.
Tremblay, 12, can be seen in the Seth
Rogen-produced comedy Good Boys.
Abrahamson admires Tremblay’s
parents: “Down to earth, in no way
pushy.” He also acknowledges the
fame the actor already has may one
day need unravelling. “There’s no
before, no normal bit to compare to.”
Baker and the Princes have kept in
touch. He is painstakingly respectful
of their choices, fractionally anxious
at the scale of their daughter’s career.
“My concern for any child is that they
are mixing with other kids, but I know
the family are aware of the hazards
around child stars, and battle those,
and keep her socially connected.”
He says that, at the height of
the 2018 awards season, with The
Florida Project in contention for
prizes, he saw Prince and Tremblay
together at an industry party. They
were passing among the adult
guests, stopping to chat and
sparkle. “Almost mingling .”
They looked, he thought,
like adults in miniature.
“And it was cute and fun
and they were playing it
up. But it also made me
hope that it was temporary,
that it wouldn’t become a
regular thing. Because it’s
not a regular thing. And they
aren’t really adults.”
Judy is released on 4 October
Hiring people
who actually
like kids to
work with
them ought
to be a given –
but it isn’t
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