THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES Director Reveals There's a Longer and Better Cut of the Film
Director Andrew Dominik’s The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is an incredible western that is a must-watch for any cinephile. I’m a big fan of that movie, and while it wasn’t a big hit when it was first released in 2007, over time people have discovered the film and they recognize its excellence.
This is just a beautifully made movie and it has an incredible cast that includes Brad Pitt, Sam Shephard, Jeremy Renner, Sam Rockwell, Mary-Louise Parker, Paul Schneider, and Zooey Deschanel.
Well, it turns out that there’s actually a longer cut of the film that the director says is even better than the theatrical cut of the movie! In a previous interview, cinematographer Roger Deakins discussed this longer cut of the film, saying:
“It should be [on Criterion]. I would really like to see the long version, the first cut that I saw, released on Criterion. That’s what I’d hope for… It was over three hours. I don’t think it ever will, because last time I talked to Andrew about it he was quite happy with the version that got released. But I still remember that first early cut that I saw that was like three and a quarter I think, and it was pretty stunning. There was a four-hour version. The first cut was like four hours, I seem to remember.”
Now in a recent interview with Collider, the director of the movie was asked about this longer cut, confirming that it does exist. The problem is, fans will probably never get the opportunity to see it. He said:
“It does exist. There used to be a video store around the corner from me where I was living in Los Feliz. And I thought I could just have the director’s cut in this one video store. You know what I mean? Like, I could just have a little DVD that I’ve made that we could just rent from this one video store. But the video stores are gone now.”
Dominik goes on to explain that he actually has tried to release this director’s cut of the film in other ways, and when talking about those attempts, he said:
“Listen, we tried to get Warner Bros. to allow us to release a longer version of it. They’re not interested in doing it, and I think somebody tried to petition Criterion to do it. Criterion were not interested in Jesse James. There is a better version of Jesse James—in my opinion—that’s about 15 minutes longer. And that’s the one that Roger was talking about. He’s never seen one that’s longer than that.”
He went on to agree with his cinematographer, and says, “I think it’s better. Yeah, and there’s another version that’s five minutes longer than the release version that I think is better, and there’s a version that is 15 minutes longer that I think is better.” He went on to tease a “really good scene” that didn’t make the cut of the film, saying:
“The problem with it was—the really good scene in the film, it sat in the version that was 15 minutes longer. It didn’t sit in the version that was only five minutes longer. Although, I think in that version, we used a truncated version of the scene, but there’s the moment where the film was done, in my opinion. That was the one that was 15 minutes longer. But there’s another year of warfare that happened from that moment on.”
It’s a shame that we’ll most likely never get to see this longer version of The Assassination of Jesse James. I would love to see this preferred version of the film! The director should just leak it online.