Sam Raimi and His Team Secretly Recut DARKMAN Without The Studio Knowing Hours Before it Was Locked

I’m a big fan of Sam Raimi’s Darkman. For 1990 that was one hell of a good superhero film, and it might have been even better if the director actually got to edit the film the way he wanted to. Unfortunately, Universal Pictures stepped in, cut Raimi out, and hired their own editor to cut the movie together.

Thankfully, at the last minute, Raimi and his team stepped in to re-cut the film in secret without the studio knowing until it was too late for them to make any more changes.

Darkman starred Liam Neeson as a brilliant scientist who embarked on a mission of revenge after being burned alive and left for dead. Thanks to a failed treatment to cure his injuries he ended up with superhuman strength and abilities. This was one of the first true dark and gritty superhero films that had been made, and it wasn't based on any existing comic book.

In a new oral history of the film’s making that was shared by THR, producer Rob Tapert told the story of how Universal tried and failed to boost test screening scores by bringing in their own editor:

“When Universal brought in their own editor [Bud S. Smith], they really did not want Sam in the process. Before that, we started on the preview process, scoring maybe 65 [from the audience] and we were down to maybe a 26. They felt that he had his opportunity with the original editor [David Stiven], who was so befuddled that he wanted to cut it into a romance movie. He had a breakdown and one day said, ‘I can’t do this,’ and left.”

Smith ended up signing on under the condition no one was to bother him while cutting the movie, and a few weeks later he turned in a much shorter cut of the film. With every new cut the was turned in the test audience scores got lower and lower. Tapet said:

“Universal sent us away. We came back, and the editor had cut it down from two hours to 85 minutes. We tested that, and it did not test as well as the longer version, which was Sam’s cut. I think we went through four or five more test screenings, and each time the score got lower and lower, and we got more depressed.”

The composer of the film Danny Elfman also shared in the report that he threatened to take his name off the movie because of what Universal was doing to Raimi’s film. There were a lot of people who had Raimi’s back, but the studio wasn’t one of them.

It was at this point that Tapert reveals that a few hours before the final cut was to be delivered, Universal settled on the shorter cut that Smith turned in. So, Tapert, Raimi, and editor Bob Murawski set out on a secret mission to recut the movie over the course of 48-hours. He said:

“I don’t mind saying this now, and Sam will probably be unhappy, but the studio said, ‘There is nothing we can do to save this picture. Let’s lock it [Smith cut approved].’ So we locked the picture on Friday night at 5 p.m. We were incredibly disheartened and dispirited. And Sam’s present editor, a guy by the name of Bob Murawski, said, ‘There is a much better movie than what we are locking right now.’ So, the decision was made that we would re-edit the movie. We spent 48 hours basically recutting the entire movie, restoring things we thought were important. We added nine minutes back in, things we really liked that the preview audiences would recoil from, but that was what it was meant to do. We locked it — and didn’t tell anybody.”

Universal obviously eventually found out, and they were pissed, but at this point, there was nothing they could do. The negatives were already being prepared for the press screenings:

“Universal came to watch it after the mix, and there was this giant outcry, but there was nothing to be done. The negative had been cut. Critic screenings were 48 hours later. Bob and I advocated very strongly for the deception. Sam, left to his own, probably would not have done that. He is not that kind of guy. But I am.”

The movie didn’t end up being a huge hit at the time, but it did get positive reviews and it made $48 million on a $16 million budget. Unfortunately, it wasn’t Sam Raimi’s full vision, but he did get one last jab in at the studio to attempt to save his movie. Maybe we should start a campaign for #DarkmanRaimiCut!

Knowing this story makes the movie even better for me! Raimi’s experience with Darkman wasn’t a good one and he even decided not to participate in this report. But, he should be proud of what he was able to give us. It really did turn out to be a solid flick, but I’d love to see what his full vision for it would have been. If you want, you can check out 10 fun facts about the film here.