Have Maggie Cheung, Samuel L. Jackson and Cloris Leachmen been cut out of Quentin Tarantino’s feverishly anticipated WWII saga, “Inglourious Basterds”?
It sure looks that way. The world will find out tomorrow morning when the film first premieres at Cannes. In the meantime, as an astute and loyal reader has pointed out, all three actors are nowhere to be mentioned in the detailed or bullet-point cast credits.
It’s completely conceivable that their scenes were never shot (Jackson was just supposed to be simply a brief narrator, anyhow), and their characters were excised from the script before they started shooting (perhaps a new revision was written before filming began), but all three of them are listed in the special thanks section, which certainly suggests some sort of removal.
Further evidence that is more explicit? In a very recent Variety interview, Tarantino said the film is now running 2 hours and 27 minutes. Wait, when the Cannes line-up was revealed, the film was listed as running 2 hours and 40 minutes and all the literature here at Cannes jives exactly with that running time. What gives? Were edits made just as the festival press notes were being made?
Here’s what seems to be the answer: The Cannes version is going to be two hours and forty minutes, but the August 21 version that the world will see will be trimmed down to two hours and twenty-seven which stands to reason possibly why roles like Maggie Cheung and Cloris Leachman have been cut. Though to be honest. Cheung’s role as the doyenne of the cinematheque Madame Mimieux was far greater and we’re betting the role was cut out of the script before shooting began. 13 minutes feels like her entire role. Leachman’s role is a flashback sequence that we even once suggested would be the first thing omitted from the film if it ran long, as the scene she’s in did have a superfluous target on its back.
Will fans not in attendance at Cannes who want the “true” Tarantino experience ever get to see this footage? Presumably, the DVD will rectify any issues, but, THR suggests, the Weinstein Company do not want to try and sell an almost three-hour movie to audiences, having probably learned their lesson with “Grindhouse.”
In related news, the official “Inglourious Basterds” website has launched and contains all kinds of imagery, wallpapers, soundtrack notes, etc. etc.
