Alternate cuts

Hi everybody and welcome to the continuing epic commentary for the extended cut of the two towers. I'm Peter Jackson. And I'm Fran Walsh. And I'm Philippa Boyens. The first thing we can talk about is the New Line logo because what people won't realise is that the logo that New Line gave us was quite scratched and jumpy and old and so we actually put it through weta, the digital effects facility, and we cleaned it up and stabilised it and sharpened it and gave it back to New Line as a special little present.

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about a million different ways to get the elvish rope into the... I know. Because it was just such an iconic moment. It's a lovely part of the book, and it was always tough to fit it in. It didn't have a story imperative, unfortunately. Well, you realise it's become a DVD special edition kind of thing now because the giving of the elvish rope to Sam was in the Fellowship extended cut, and then the using of it is in the Two Towers extended cut. If you look at the movie version, it doesn't exist. It's kind of cute.

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Now we're back on location shot. Two years apart. What food have we got left? Well, let me see. Oh, yes, lovely. Lambus bread. The lambus bread is a funny little thing, too, because the lambus bread was introduced in the Fellowship extended cut, but it was in a theatrical version of The Two Towers, so unless you knew something of Tolkien or had watched the DVD, you wouldn't have a clue what this stuff was, but, you know, too bad.

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We actually have a few more seconds of strangling in the extended cut because remember the MPAA asked us to reduce the intensity and we shortened one of the strangling shots and then we put it back at its original length here. So this is a complete full strangulation, never seen before, here exclusively on DVD. In this shot here, old Tom, who's trying his hardest to be dead, actually blinked right in the middle of the shot, but Andy's performance was so great on this particular take

4:09 · jump to transcript →

We actually ended up picking quite conservative takes because they shot five or six takes of this particular sequence. And Billy and Dom gave us a lot of variations in just how stoned they were. And there were some actually quite funny ones where they were incredibly stoned. And I ended up using ones that were a little bit more conservative. But there are some very funny outtakes. This plays particularly well if you've seen the extended cut of Two Towers, of course, and seen them find Saruman's hoard.

10:06 · jump to transcript →

The Return of the King, we would have made so many different choices. It's OK being in the extended cut because, in a sense, the existence of the extended cut completes what's effectively a box set. It's three movies. The end of one film and the beginning of the next becomes less relevant. You haven't got a year gap between the rest of these films anymore. You've now got them sitting on your shelf as one complete set.

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Hi, I'm Peter Jackson, the director and co-writer and producer of The Lord of the Rings. Hi, I'm Fran. I have a writing credit on the film and a producing credit. Hi, I'm Philippa Boyens. I only have a writing credit on the film. And we're up here in our office in Miramar, New Zealand, having a look at this movie. A little bit of a different version of the film than what you're used to seeing in the theatres. This is the extended cut version. Got a few new scenes that none of you have seen before, so it'll be fun to talk about those.

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One of the most significant changes from the theatrical version into this extended cut is the way that we introduced the Hobbits and particularly Bilbo Baggins. At the time that we thought, we didn't think we were going to have a prologue and we were going to open the movie with the writing of Bilbo's book and hearing his voice describing Hobbits. Once we decided to go back to the concept of including the prologue and the prologue became seven minutes long,

8:32 · jump to transcript →

then this sequence started to feel like there was just too much narration. To some degree, that's probably true, but it is such a delightful sequence that I just felt that it deserved to be seen. And so, you know, for good or bad, here it is on this extended cut. Obviously, it establishes the book that Bilbo is writing, which we now see later in Rivendell.

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My name is Len Wiseman. I'm the director of the film. I'm sitting here with Kate Beckinsale and Scott Speedman. And Kate plays Selene, obviously. And Speedman, I think you were one of the set PAs. Yeah, set PA. I got promoted. That's Speedman right there. - That's me. That's me. Or Michael. Michael. - Yeah, it's Michael. You've got a lovely young back. - I do, really nice little back. So we're watching... This is an extended cut. This is not a director's cut. What it is, It's a version that's put together... ...to show you what's missing from the original film... ...and what had been cut out and what's been changed. And I'll go into some detail, not too boring... ... about why that happened. I like that type of thing. Do you? - That was Nate, right? That was Nate. That was Nate Robinson.

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There should have been a sinister laugh there. I love evil, sinister laughs. Those are the best. They're so funny, man. Michael should have belted one out. - If anyone could, it's him. He definitely can. See, we just bashed open one door. I was quite feeble in this one. It took a wee bit. Well, remember you kept locking your wrists? Like a ballerina? - Yeah. Those days are gone. - Gone. What's that? - No idea. Where are we? - This is a movie called Underworld. It's about vampires fighting... I'm glad you didn't make me blow dust off it. Wasn't there a movie we saw where... ...someone blew dust off five things? It irritated me. No, don't say what it was. - Yeah, I won't say the movie. What was it? - I'm not telling. Screw it. It was poor. - It was a poor movie. There was a lot of... - Dust blowing. Dust blowing. - Yeah, that sucks. Did you draw these, babe? - I didn't draw these. No, I didn't. - You can draw? I try. This is an extended scene. Let me talk about this. Okay. I'm not in it, so... - No, this is actually... ... Just goes into depth a little bit more about... ... how the Lycans were taken as slaves, and you see the branding here... ...and how they were all... - Why wasn't this in? It's cool. It's pacing. It was just taking too long... Who's Korgel? - Yeah, who is Korgel? I think he was, like, one of the transportation guys. And it shows that everybody-- Like, with the actual brands that, you know... ...Lucian has the brand of... With a V in it, so he was kind of... as a... Like Viktor's cattle, of sorts, so... I think this should have been in. This is cool. I agree with you. - Yeah. That's helpful. This is an extended version, ithas some stuff... ...that would have been in a director's cut... ...but then also some stuff that's in here that... ...was taken out for good reason. - I really like this. It looks thick for skin. It is, and looks like Play-doh when it's ripped off. Now, who's that? That is Lucian, who's in this movie called Underworld that.... I didn't see his head, man. Did you get a script? - Yeah, I read it. We don't know Lucian, even though we've seen him. It's him. He's got that necklace. So I'm just wondering... I mean, I know... lf you were asking me, I would have said Lucian, but I wanted to know. We're coming out with an animated version for children. You can get that. He only read his bit. You know that. - They only sent me my scenes. This is good. I like this. - This movie? Yeah, it's good. - You should maybe rent it. I should rent it. It's funny now. I get really... - Protective? In Blockbuster, some guy next to me was deciding whether or not he was... ...going to buy Underworld or Pirates of the Caribbean. And it really makes me quite nervous now when I see stuff like that. What did he buy? - I actually had... Pirates of the Caribbean. - I actually had to-- The good thing is... I said, "Oh, I would kind of go for that one right there. That's a good one." You did? - I did. And he said, "You know, I would have bought it... ...but I've rented it three times, and I should've bought it the first time." So that was good. - That's cool. Look at you exposing yourself. There's Forrest going in for the kill. Look, there's, again, there's close, close talking. This is the very first day for me. For everybody. Do you remember the conversation about repeating the lines? Me? - No, just with anybody. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then I did it. Did I do it? You did it once, and I said I liked that. When I do it, it's great. - You can pull it off. No, but I actually like this scene. I actually... No, I think this worked well. It's because I wasn't there. - You can tell it's, like, our first day. We don't look tired and... - I was really stressed. That was stressful. - It was the first scene I've done. lt was a really small set. Everybody was, like, crammed in. lt was a tense day. Everybody was there. That's always a tense day, but, for whatever reason, it was extra tense. Between reels, we were talking a bit about the Internet. And apparently, Kate found a site where it's discussed in a forum... ... that's discussing whether or not Len Wiseman... ...iS the worst person on the planet. - What? Based on what? And I say, "Yes." - Based on what? "He's a liar, a thief, a coward, a highwayman, something." How does he know you so well? Who is it? They're talking about whether-- It's, like, listing about, "He's a coward." Why would they call you a coward? - Because he's a big, old fraidy pants. But no, seriously. Did you read on or just turn it off? We read on. It's actually a bunch of... - They said he poses like a gangster. I pose like a gangster. - That is quite humourous. Sounds like a lot of jealousy to me. - It's a lot of jealous 16, 17 year olds. I thought it was all true. - Did you? This was the day you were mean to me, babe. Why were you mean? Because she was slowing down our day. I was not. - No, I don't even... You slow down your own damn day. - I don't even remember. I think there's a few witnesses to that. - Well, that's true. That's true. I know what it was. - What was it? I had arrived at 6 in the morning, and you wanted me to work through... ... Without lunch until 4, because it was convenient to you. But my child arrived three hours before, and I was... ... feeling a little bit like, you know, "Could I please go see my child... ...for the half-hour I'm promised?" - No, it actually... That's what it was. - I was not aware of that. You may not have been aware, but you were still an asshole about it. Crap. - There's a certain way that a movie... I feel like the child of divorced parents, I really do. I'm not aware when people eat lunch. That's the AD's thing. I wasn't talking about lunch but about parenting. Sometime, I'll take you through how a movie set operates. Oh, like you know, Mr. One-Movie. Oh, crap. This does not fare well.

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God, this day.... Again, it was.... You guys were just cracking up the whole day. We had to actually look full in the face and kiss each other. This kiss is actually taken out of the original. Oh, yeah, that's right. And you put It back in. Michael does not look happy about that. It's quite a long kiss there. - Yeah. What's going on? - Don't you remember, you and I? Remember, we were just like, "Why is he leaving us here?" Why am I leaving you? I was behind the camera going, "Excuse me." Most directors will shout "Cut" when they're done. I was yelling "Cut" and doing the clap. - You were not. You just had the drool coming out of one side of your mouth. A lot of wandering about that was cut. Again, this isn't a director's cut, this is an extended cut. And a lot of the stuff, you can see why it was taken out. It was just like things like this. lt wasn't necessary at the end of the day. Essentially, a director's cut, the difference... An extended cut is basically a longer movie that the director says: "This has got nothing to do with me." Yes. I mean, there's stuff in here that I wanted to see back in... . like Scott's back-story and Singe's original reveal. But a lot of the stuff, I was glad to see it go. That's my favourite shot of a werewolf... ...that low-angle roar. I thought he looked the most like a real animal. Good old Bill. I mean, he really did so much of that stuff himself. Oh, yeah. That's like, when he stabs with the sword here... ...this look that he's got with the baring the fangs. No, when he was doing all the fighting... ... he'd never even done a stage fight in his life. And he was in that water for hours at the end. Oh, yeah. And he's, you know, going up against, you know, Scott. Scott and the stunt guys, and.... No, he hung in there. We just beat the shit out of him too. It was really.... He was just exhausted and was... Freezing in that water too. - Yeah, it was. But he never, you know, put his hands up and said: "It's just, you Know, it's too much." Everybody was pretty good like that. - Oh, they were all-- They were great.

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You know, because what could be worse than seeing a creature that makes trophies out of predators? So that was kind of the idea with it. Didn't end up making it in the film. Didn't end up making it in the extended cut either. But, you know, we didn't have the time or money to paint them out of the back of that shot, so we just took all the green out. Hopefully no one will notice. Yeah, in the digital intermediate process.

24:29 · jump to transcript →

Yeah, for having very little setup time or anything at all. I mean, it was really running gun on this stuff. Those are some of the thermal shots as the Predator is getting deeper and deeper in the power plant here. The vision gets a little twitchier. Sort of EMP from parts of the power plant start interfering with his vision modes. Yeah, it's really funny how when you see the movie early on, you see directors cut probably...

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Yushio Mahoto. Look. There used to be so many more of these photos, but we cut two of the scenes with all the photos in them. They were so brilliant, some of them, these sort of slightly obscene Christmas puns. That was meant to be the Four Tops. - That was the Four Tops. Can I patch you through? She wants to ask you a favor. That's brilliant. Thanks and be nice. I'm always nice. - You know what I mean, Marky, be friendly. I'm always... - Mark? This plot with Andrew and Keira and Chiwe is in some ways the kind of model for what the film was meant to be. I always said that I wanted it to have, you know, 10 good beginnings, 10 good middles and 10 good ends. And in fact, they've really only got three scenes. They've got the wedding, which is the beginning, and then they've got the scene where she goes around to his house and looks at the video, which is the middle, and they've got the scene with the cards, which is the end, and that was sort of the idea, that you'd fillet out all the unnecessary Stuff in films. And this is the one remaining little extra scenelet. I think it could go. Hugh, you appear to have misunderstood what we're doing here, Hugh, you appear to have misunderstood what we're doing here, which is that the film's finished and that's why we're commenting on it. Well, you say that. It's not out yet. Do you think this will be one example where the director's cut is actually shorter? We should have Hugh's cut. I always think that the director's cut in films actually should be called the director's half-cut, which is one day when he's drunk, he says, "That was a very good scene. "I wish to see that back in again." Now, this next shot was suggested by Mickey Coulter. He said that I'd wasted what was actually on offer. ...doing dark deeds. And I think he was right. - What do you mean? That high shot. - I think we know what you mean. I'd only done a little shot of Heike's face. - Can we see that again? And he said that's... - He wanted to lower the camera. Move the gib around. He wanted it up above the head. I was just going to have it all just done on a reaction shot. Here we go. - Beautiful. I so love this tune. I like the performance as well, although I think Colin's cardie is controversial. It's his own, isn't it?

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Again, that was stuff that you told us to scream at each other. We thought that it was going to be before the beginning of the scene. This is trying to get us into the mood, and then you used it in the final cut. You never know. You sneaky little thing. You know, Brian Cates, master editor, he used every ounce of common sweat in the editing of this film. So the screams that we used to give you guys energy...

42:33 · jump to transcript →

Probably the best visuals in the movie are now. Yeah. The final trip through London... from the air. Because, you know, the special effects crew removed every sign of life. And, you know, it's amazing how special effects now, this is kind of an apocalyptic vision with this place burned. This is one of the big shots in the movie. Originally, it was the end of the movie. But two days before the date of the final cut, Juan Carlos and I, we decide to... to turn this into something else. And we took the Eurostar with Bernie Bellew, producer of the film. And... with minimum crew and the TV camera, we decide to add a cue, no? A coda. The famous coda that we are about to see now. It was shot with Enrique, Bernie and I, and 12 extras. At 5am in Paris. And we shot with a small camera, an HD camera, to... to deliver, you know, this kind of new step in the story. And it was very funny, because we... we shot the movie, we shot that moment as a kind of point of view of the infected, so we ran behind infected and we discover the big image, one of the big images in the story, which is the final image, which means the infection... is out of control and takes over another... another city... which its Paris.

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James Mangold

One of the wonderful qualities for making this film for me was that I had final cut on this film and that it was a unique experience and that it was Completely independent of any studio. We made it including the studio that distributes at Lionsgate They came on right before we started shooting the film but this film was put together with completely independent financing separate from any studio at all and

56:00 · jump to transcript →

Yeah. Stevie Coogan. Little Stevie Coogan. Little Stevie Coogan. Yeah, fucking pussy. That's what he is. I still think he's a pussy. That really is your makeup person there. Yeah, this is all the real crew. I mean, we didn't go out and hire a fake crew to play the crew. We just literally filmed our own crew. We got Jimmy Rich over there holding the boom. Yeah, now Jimmy Rich's scene is included in the director's cut. I'm glad to hear that. Because he had a very funny scene where he's the boom guy and Coogan gets upset with him. There's our boy now. There's little Cody.

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