“Babylon A.D.” Director Lashes Out Against 20th Century Fox

Ouch. Looks like one of those (many) times where a studio interferes with the creative process. Most disturbing to me is how the studio cut the movie down to an hour and a half. I assume that’s the ‘magic number’ for summer action movies, but I don’t really see a point in a movie having to be 90 minutes.

Usually, if it’s not a comedy, a movie that’s only 90 minutes long seems like it’s too short. For example, this summer’s Hancock was an OK movie, but it felt a little too short, like there was possibly an entire subplot ejected from the movie. I wouldn’t have mind seeing a 2 hour Will Smith summer action movie.

Babylon A.D. didn’t really look appealing regardless, and so it’s possible that the director is trying to find an excuse for his bad movie by blaming the studio. But, then again, 20th Century Fox doesn’t have the best track record with letting the filmmakers make film. Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven was one such casualty. However, they did let Scott release an amazing 4-disc director’s cut, which I consider not only the best version of Kingdom of Heaven, but Ridley Scott’s finest film.

Maybe 20th Century Fox will allow Mathieu Kassovitz to release his own version on DVD and Blu-ray sometime in the future.

clipped from movies.yahoo.com Director Mathieu Kassovitz — best known in this country for his acting turns in movies like Amelie and Munich — is an award-winning filmmaker in his native France. He spent the last five years working on his dream project, an adaptation of the French sci-fi novel “Babylon Babies,” got a Hollywood studio to co-finance it, and scored a big American movie star to headline it. So now that the movie is coming out, why is he so angry? “I’m very unhappy with the film. The script wasn’t respected. Bad producers, bad partners, it was a terrible experience.” “The movie is supposed to teach us that the education of our children will mean the future of our planet. The production was plagued by delays, weather problems, and budgetary concerns. But Kassovitz is now most upset that the studio, 20th Century Fox, edited down his original cut to a short 93 minutes. “I had something much better in my hands but I just wasn’t allowed to work…I should have chosen a studio that has guts.”

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