I imagine these will cut scenes will end up as extras on the DVD, but I would love to be given the option to view this 3 hour cut. As the same time I really wish there was an option to see some of the earlier cuts of Serenity. Not as something to re-watch all the time, but just a curious look into the filming process. Like the awesome Bladerunner DVD set that contains I think 5 different versions of the movie.

Matt_Fabb | March 12, 07:49 CET

Obviously won't happen, though. His comments here about the director's cut being what gets released to begin with are pretty much exactly what he said about Serenity at the time, too.

The One True b!X | March 12, 08:00 CET

Yup, I don't expect there to be multiple Avengers cuts on blu-ray anymore than I expect a new version of Serenity being release with multiple cuts.

I get that the 2 hour and 15 minutes will be the definite version of the movie, I would just like seeing alternate takes, rather than only seeing deleted scenes separately. Which is different than having a Lord of the Rings extended edition or the various director's cuts of movies out there. Once again, the Blade Runner release being a good example of this. However, it doesn't seem to be that Joss is into release multiple versions, but rather just have one definite version once he's finished tweaking it.

Matt_Fabb | March 12, 08:16 CET

Though I would imagine there would be nothing to stop the studio from bringing out an "extended" DVD version if they so chose.

Simon | March 12, 08:44 CET

I kinda agree with the boss man on this: director's cuts are notorious for bloat, because more is not necessarily more. I have a curiosity as a fan to see the 3 hour cut, but the 2:15 final edit that Joss seems to have settled probably plays as the better movie.

I like what he says here:

“There’s a lot of me that got cut out, but I think part of the process in a situation like this is you make the movie, you make your movie, then you remove yourself out of the equation. At some point you stop looking beyond The Avengers movie at your own stuff, you don’t look at that horizon you look at this movie and you go, ‘You know what, The Avengers are more important than I am so these things that I’m obsessed with aren’t necessarily moving the story forward, and therefore they are baggage.’

He mentioned in another interview that his break filming Much Ado gave him energy and perspective to go back to The Avengers and see the movie with fresh eyes.

dottikin | March 12, 09:28 CET

That reminds me quite a bit of the 'Waiting in the Wings' commentary where he discussed cutting Alexis' dance...

Matt7325 | March 12, 10:09 CET

I agree with Josh about Easter eggs; if the fanboy in me likes them, they can be distracting from the main plot.
This is also why Hitchcock put his famous cameos at the begining of the movie.

chrisdvanne | March 12, 12:43 CET

Wouldn't mind if Joss could edit some of the excised material together to form an additional feature for the DVD/BR edition - rather than just including a long sequence of unconnected deleted scenes (often slightly laborious to watch). There must be at least a ten minute feature in there somewhere.

daylight | March 12, 14:21 CET

I'm liking everything I'm reading except the part where Joss says he's removing some of "himself." (I assume this refers to special shots or clever things that were taken out because they "didn't fit" or serve to move the plot forward.) I understand why things needs to "fit" but sometimes those pieces that don't fit perfectly help define a movie. I'm thinking about that whole scene in Pulp Fiction where Samuel Jackson and John Travolta were discussing giving a girl a foot massage. That entire scene didn't "fit" per se because it didn't move the plot forward but it has some of the best dialog in the movie. So include me in the camp that would love to see a three hour Joss version.

Also, who say's Whedonesque isn't educational? I just learned that Easter Eggs are not just hidden extra features in the DVDs. (I thought a cameo was just a cameo and a reference to an outside verse was just a reference....low and behold, those are "Easter Eggs" too!)

I think this is my favorite Easter Egg from a DVD.

alexreager | March 12, 16:22 CET

I LOVE that Jeff Beck version of the Stevie Wonder song. I really wish the studio had ponied up the money for that. Now I'm going to have to play that scene and put that music on at the same time to see/hear how it SHOULD have gone.

steverogers | March 12, 17:48 CET

Double post - sorry.

[ edited by steverogers on 2012-03-12 17:57 ]

steverogers | March 12, 17:54 CET

@alexreager
"I think this is my favorite Easter Egg from a DVD."

whoa whoa whoa! I've never seen this before!! I've never checked the Buffy DVDs for Easter Eggs ... stupid me.

Probably says a lot that even in that super-fast montage you can instantly spot a shot from "The Body" with Buffy in the red shirt against the warm tones of the wall behind her.

D-e-f- | March 12, 18:28 CET

That was actually part of "The Gift". I assume it was chopped off the beginning for the US edition of the DVDs.

daylight | March 12, 18:56 CET

Yes, that is the previously for "The Gift", which is left in the episode on my r2 discs. I believe the US version has them removed, so this particular one was included as an easter egg. It works much better in the episode with the cut to the camera zooming through an alleyway, leading into the fantastic cold opening for the 100th episode that really explains what the show is.

"But you're just a girl"
"That's what I've always said."

[ edited by Vandelay on 2012-03-12 19:30 ]

Vandelay | March 12, 19:29 CET

This is good. I really don't like when there are different versions of a movie. Sometimes it's necessary but sometimes it's just confusing. And 2 hours 15 seems like a good runtime.

I like watching deleted scenes though. I actually keep hoping that some day we'll see all the deleted scene from Buffy. Joss and the writers spoke several times of these scenes in the audio commentaries and episodes having to be cut because of time, but we never got to see them on the dvds ! I think that would be a wonderful extra for when they release the show on Blu-Ray.

[ edited by Liam12 on 2012-03-12 19:58 ]

Liam12 | March 12, 19:53 CET

Vandelay, you took the quote right out of my mouth (typing right of my fingers?)!

But since it is such a significant little bit of the show, the exact quote is, "That's what I keep saying."

alexreager | March 12, 20:05 CET

I figure when Joss says,

"There’s a lot of me that got cut out, but I think part of the process in a situation like this is you make the movie, you make your movie, then you remove yourself out of the equation."

he is talking about something akin to what James Cameron did with The Abyss. His whole inspiration for The Abyss was a long-standing nightmare involving a tsunami. The final cut of the movie has almost nothing about the tsunami except as a pithy detail. But he did write it in the script, there were scenes shot, and they did do a full special effects tsunami hitting land.The Abyss is much better without it.

BreathesStory | March 12, 20:54 CET

My assumption was he's talking about, for lack of a better term, self-indulgences. Things that might be cool but don't necessarily serve to move the experience forward. One of my favorite things about the final cut on Serenity is it's horribly efficient. I expect he took the same kind of editorial knife to this one. (Possibly helped by his editorial relationship with Lisa Lassek, whose name I noticed appears on the poster now.)

The One True b!X | March 12, 21:19 CET

I know people want The Avengers to reference existing Marvel properties, but do the aliens helping Loki NEED to previously exist in canon? Doesn't every comic have the liberty of inventing something new if it needs it and doesn't conflict with anything?

There's all this focus on who these mystery aliens are, but I find it strange since in a movie with this many stars they are mainly a plot device. As Joss says about the Skrulls.... they HAVE a backstory so if he uses another property how does he do justice to Iron Man, Captain America, Hawkeye, The Hulk, The Black Widow, Thor, Loki... oh.... and this whole race of people we haven't discussed yet. Better to just invent them, give them a coherent motivation, and let 'em do their thing. It's not like Boba Fett required any back story to become an icon from a great film.

[ edited by azzers on 2012-03-12 22:21 ]

azzers | March 12, 22:09 CET

Error double post.

[ edited by azzers on 2012-03-12 22:19 ]

azzers | March 12, 22:18 CET

azzer, nor did Darth Vader, for that matter.

Jaymii | March 12, 22:23 CET

I wonder how long Much Ado is going to be. Shakespeare wrote rom-coms that were longer than two hours. I accept the reasoning though.

I suppose the movie poster has been commented on in other threads. As a non-Marvel-comic reader, it strikes me as a mess. It will take a truly talented writer and director to make a coherent film out of this many unrelated superheroes.

janef | March 13, 01:13 CET