The First Cut of STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI Was Over 3-Hours Long!
At 2 hours and 30 minutes, Star Wars: The Last Jedi is the longest Star Wars movie that has been made. According to director Rian Johnson, the first cut of the film was well over three hours long! When talking to Collider, the filmmaker said:
"We had a long movie from the start. It was well over three hours, the first cut… It’s much better at two and a half [hours] than it was at over three, but it was a cut I had put together, is where we started. And it was over three hours."
I understand that he says the movie is much better at two and half hours. But as a fan, I won't lie, that original longer cut is the cut of the film that I want to see! The filmmaker goes on to talk about how cutting the film down helped the movie:
"A lot of really good stuff came out in the edit. I actually just reviewed the deleted scenes we’re gonna have on the Blu-ray. There’s a bunch of—some of my favorite scenes ended up having to come out just structurally… There’s a lot of really substantial, really good scenes. There’s a couple whole sequences actually that we lifted out. It’s weirdly—and this always happens—it’s like your babies you have to kill. It’s some of my favorite stuff from the movie."
At least these "really good scenes" won't be lost forever. We'll eventually see them on the home release. However, I do think it would be cool to see an "Extended Cut" of the film like what Peter Jackson did with The Lord of the Rings films. Unfortunately, the director isn't into that kind of thing. He explains:
“I’m really not into [releasing an extended cut]. I feel like the cut is what it is because I feel like it’s the best version of the movie, so the ‘director’s cut’ is the movie that’s going out in theaters. All the deleted scenes, no matter how much I love them, they came out for a reason and it’s all for the greater good of the movie itself. You can watch the deleted scenes on their own, I think that’s the way to watch them, but the movie is definitely the best version of the movie I think.”
Well if he feels the version we'll see is the best version of the film, then it's hard to argue. I love the films of Rian Johnson and I trust what he's doing. But it wouldn't hurt to do an extended cut! Just saying'.
The Last Jedi lands in theaters on December 15th.