Reel regret of directors’cuts
QUESTION
Are there many films that have been disowned by their directors?
AMERICAN History X – a powerful tale of two brothers involved in the neo-Nazi movement in Los Angeles – received strong reviews, and the performance of lead actor Edward Norton was particularly highly praised.
However, one person who did not like the film, released in 1998, was its own director – the Englishman Tony Kaye.
Kaye had delivered his own cut of the movie, which was 95 minutes in length. However, this was not the version ultimately released. The finished product was 24 minutes longer, and the director was not happy.
He commented that ‘the movie they put out was crammed with shots of everyone crying in each other’s arms’.
He also later recalled how he ‘got the movie pulled from the Toronto film festival’, revealing he ‘marched into the office of the festival organiser and demanded that the film be withdrawn because I wasn’t happy with it’.
He even tried, unsuccessfully, to get his name removed from the film, suggesting various pseudonyms, including Humpty Dumpty.
However, Kaye later came to regret his behaviour, commenting: ‘My ego got in the way. That was entirely my fault.’
Dominic Jones, Co. Wicklow.
BATMAN & Robin, the fourth and final film in Warner Bros’ initial Batman film series, was panned by the critics when it was released in 1997, and even fans of the franchise were disappointed with the movie.
Director Joel Schumacher, later recalling the vehemently negative reaction, commented: ‘I was scum. It was like I had murdered a baby.’ He did not issue a defence of the movie, though, and instead offered a mea culpa to cinema-goers.
‘I want to apologise to every fan that was disappointed because I think I owe them that,’ he said. ‘A lot of it was my choice. No one is responsible for my mistakes but me.’
Lucy O’Dea, Co. Galway
ALIEN 3, the sci-fi horror released in 1992, received decidedly mixed reviews, and was widely seen as inferior to the two previous films in the franchise.
Director David Fincher was among those who disliked the movie – and he explained that it was beset by production problems. It was his feature directorial debut, and he recalled: ‘I had to work on it for two years, got fired off it three times and I had to fight for every single thing... It was a baptism by fire. I was very naive.’
And offering a damning take on his own film, he said: ‘To this day, no one hates it more than me.’
Bobby Hamilton, Malahide.
DAVID Lynch is known for his surrealist films, many of which have received considerable acclaim, but when he tried his hand at a sci-fi epic, with 1984’s Dune, the critical response was negative. The movie was also a box-office bomb – and Lynch himself would ultimately disown it.
The director had gone to Universal Pictures with a three-hour cut of Dune, but the studio developed a different version that removed some of the film’s more unusual elements. Lynch later commented that he ‘knew when I was signing the contract that I was signing away final cut’, adding: ‘From that moment I felt like, looking back, I started selling out.’ He accepted that he ‘probably shouldn’t have done that picture’.
John Keane, by email.
QUESTION
Who created the first sunglasses with UV protection?
MODERN sunglass technology began with the British chemist, physicist and inventor, William Crookes (1832-1919). In 1913 Crookes introduced Crookes Lenses, made from glass containing the metallic element cerium, which completely blocked ultraviolet light. Some cerium is added to decolourise glass, and these lenses were originally produced to prevent cataracts, not to stop the glare of the sun.
Crookes’s lenses were made at the Chance Brothers factory in Birmingham and, by chance, a batch of lenses were contaminated by waste blue glass. This gave the lenses an agreeable blue tint.
Chance patented the formulation. As a result, glass-type Crookes A2, patented in 1926, became very fashionable. Other manufacturers followed with functional and fashionable designs. Zeiss added its sun protection formulation, UMBRAL, to the range in 1924. It offered partial protection against the UV spectrum.
J. B. Southern, Derby.
QUESTION
Could Michael Jackson play an instrument?
SINCE Michael Jackson’s father made him the leader of The Jackson 5, his brothers were put to work playing the instruments, while Michael was told to focus on singing, dancing and performing.
Michael never learned to read or write music, and could play instruments only to a basic level.
Out of Jackson’s 10 studio albums, he’s credited with playing only on his sprawling ninth, History, where he contributes on keyboard, synthesiser, guitar, drums and percussion.
Jackson was a natural musician who fully realised his songs in his head before they were notated.
Sound engineer Rob Hoffman explained: ‘One morning, MJ came in with a new song he’d written overnight. We called in a guitar player, and Michael sang every note of every chord to him. He’d sing us an entire string arrangement, every part.’
Mary Cayley, Yateley, Hampshire.
▪ Is there a question to which you have always wanted to know the answer? Or do you know the answer to a question raised here? Send your questions and answers to: Charles Legge, Answers To Correspondents, Irish Daily Mail, DMG Media, Two Haddington Buildings, 20-38 Haddington Road, Dublin 4, D04 HE94. You can also fax them to 0044 1952 510906 or you can email them to charles. legge@dailymail.ie. A selection will be published but we are not able to enter into individual correspondence.