Scarlett Johannson-Directed Segment Cut from New York, I Love You
After making a name for herself as both an actress, and more recently, a singer, Scarlett Johannson also tried her hand at directing sometime last year, contributing a short to the anthology film New York, I Love You. Unfortunately, it looks like her directorial career may have suffered a setback of sorts, as her segment, which starred Kevin Bacon, was reportedly dropped from the final cut of the film. She was not the only director excluded from the film; Andrei Zvyagintsev’s contribution was also axed, although both shorts will still appear on the DVD release of the film.
The reason for the cuts is not entirely clear. The New York Post quotes an inside source who says, “It was really bad, so it was cut.” However, producer Emmanuel Benbihy tells a different story:
“Scarlett presented me with an extremely compelling, albeit unconventional, narrative that appeared as though it would not necessarily conform to the overall approach of the entire collective… However, I was very much moved by her vision and I did not want to pass on the opportunity to help her develop it. All that matters to me is the genuine movie language of the author.”
Apparently it is radically different from the other shorts because it “does not specifically involve an interpersonal relationship” and was shot entirely in black-and-white. Strange, I thought the point of these anthology films was to have a wide variety of styles that are very loosely connected. The movie debuted last year at the Toronto Film Festival, and I believe both Johannson and Zvyagintsev’s segments were still included at that point. Has anyone out there seen the film? Did they deserve to be removed from the film?
Comments (3)
that producer quote is classic, “I’m sorry, please don’t hate me and bad mouth me to people in the industry and never agree to work on any movie I’m assoc. with”
Posted by rus in chicago on May 5th, 2009“Scarlett presented me with an extremely compelling, albeit unconventional, narrative that appeared as though it would not necessarily conform to the overall approach of the entire collective”
In other words it sucked. Scarlett is a overrated talent as far as I am concerned who really believes her own press. Besides being an OK actress, her singing leaves a lot to be desired and I am sure her directing skills need some time to develop (I’m not going to say she outright sucked as a director because I have yet to see the Bacon piece, but it wouldn’t surprise me)
Posted by 1138 on May 5th, 2009Mmmm, Bacon…
Posted by Kasper F. Nielsen on May 5th, 2009Leave a Reply