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Would a restored "54" be a gay movie must-see?
Los Angeles filmgoers are in the thick of this year's Outfest, and the gay blogs are going nuts over the "secret screening" of the director's cut of the 1998 film 54. Set in the late 70's, "54" chronicled the rise and fall of the famed discotheque Studio 54, where famous and infamous celebrities would go to be seen and experience, um ..."altered states of consciousness". It starred Mike Myers in a rare dramatic performance as club owner Steve Rubell, and Ryan Phillippe as Shane, a new bartender who is quickly seduced into this world of glitz, glamour, and designer coke spoons. I remember watching it and thinking "meh", but it looks like all of us who saw it missed out on the real movie. The director's cut was screened at Outfest, and writer/director Mark Christopher has restored 45 minutes of footage that the studio originally forced him to cut out. According to Greg Hernandez of Out In Hollywood, that footage makes all the difference:
"So how different is the director's cut? VERY. And it's MUCH better and much more gay! Phillippe's character is bisexual in this superior version and shares screen kisses with several men, including Breckin Meyer...Christopher's original version is such a better film because it chronicles the club's fall along with Phillippe's personal journey."
Cameron Mathison in his formal wear
Also of note is the inclusion of more scenes from perpetually shirtless ultra-hunk Cameron Mathison (who I didn't even remember was in the movie):
"As an added treat, we also get to see a bit more of the beautiful Cameron Mathison of "All My Children" and "Dancing With the Stars" fame who was only seen briefly in the studio version. His character is gay! We did not know this from before. But in the director's cut, he's in a relationship with one of the other bartenders and they even share a passionate kiss."
Unfortunately, there are no current plans to release this director's cut, but with the enormous amount of attention it's gained just from this one showing, maybe that'll change. What do you think? Is the film worth revisiting, or should it go the way of the polyester suit? Submitted by on Tue, 2008-07-15 13:52. |
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DAMN -- I missed that screening!
Of course it's worth restoring and re-releasing. Mark Christopher (who studied film with Paul Schrader) made several excellent shorts (including Alkaline Iowa, and The Dead Boys Club -- another look at the disco 70s) and the failure of the Weinsteinized 54 has stymied his career. Weinstein's Miramax got very cold feet when they saw the origanl and demanded a de-gayed version -- which of course flopped. As we've seen in subsequent performances (particularly Igby Goes Down and Flags of Our Fathers) Ryan Phillippe is not only babe-a-liciousness personified, he's a teriffic actor too.
Now if someone could only convince Miramax's current management that a "director's cut" would be worth it's while. Think of it as the gay Blade Runner.
Mark Christopher newest short
He had another excellent short in Outfest last year called HEARTLAND. Where he returned to his Iowa roots about a New Yorker returning home to his farm world and meets and falls in love under unusual circumstance. The Whinesteins [sic] are control freaks par excellence and while they have put out some good films they are classic "Movie Mogul Monsters." I so want to see ALKALI made into a full length film. Mark is a very underappreciated talent.
Would Love To See This
When I first saw the movie, I just knew that they had cut out tons because it was all very convaluted and disjointed but saying that, I thought Mike Myers gave a great performance.
A theatrical re-release might be over doing it, but I'd love to rent a copy or something or go to a screening like the one mentioned in this article.
I'm new here. Yay!
A must-see
I remember reading about it
I remember reading about how the Weinsteins chopped the movie to pieces--heck, it was covered in Entertainment Weekly even before the movie was released (August 1998, right?), and even then they mentioned that it was being cut up most likely due to the gay content--though I believe the Monster Moguls claimed it was due to the running time (which I don't think anybody bought a few months after the 3 hour plus Titanic made billions at the box office).
I would love to see a restored version, especially for Breckin Meyer, who is totally adorable.
54--I might sit through it again...
I remember feeling incredibly cheated...
...I went to see the movie thinking it might be, at the very least, a decent depiction of that era. I knew it had been cut but I hadn't imagined how much. It was obvious that it had been butchered beyond belief-you could feel entire chapters missing. It was like they edited out all the relevant details, and kept the rest.
So a restored cut would definitely be worth seeing-hell, even if it's only a mediocure film, it'd still be a vast improvement.
But more shirtless Cameron, more heat between Ryan and Breckin? I'll go with "must see", followed by "must have on DVD".
What really pisses me off is that the cuts were made because of the response from the test audience. Who the hell did they test-screen it for? A bunch of horny jock frat boys, and their dates?
Put it out!
The only way I'd see this movie would be to see the restored director's cut. I remember it being reviewed as scattered and inconsistent. Oh well. Sorry I missed it at Outfest (was it on the program at all?). Here's to hoping it makes its way to DVD, or at least more (underground) screenings.
-D
See more about me at: www.randomscreaming.com
Oh I hope they put out a
Oh I hope they put out a restored director's cut. I've always enjoyed the film, for some reason or another. I'd love to see the full version. I always knew it had been cut, but never really knew what was cut. Now I wanna see it!
WOW
Having been there, I snoozed through this movie, because (of course) nothing was remotely "gay" about "54". I'd definetly see the Director's Cut, just for these scenes.
Remember when Cameron was a model for INTERNATIONAL MALE?
Hey, if "Alexander" could get 3 versions...
Future epitaph: "It seemed like a good idea at the time."
There was the original cut, then there was an edited cut that took out even more of the gay-themed stuff, then I think Oliver Stone finally released yet another "director's cut" which was even longer than the first one released. But it probably depends on the power of the director (and Stone's pretty powerful) compared to the power of the studio--and we know how powerful Disney is. I've been waiting for them to release the original cut of "Priest" on DVD for years, since the American version trimmed the love scenes between Linus Roche and Robert Carlyle by quite a bit--I think the British cut ran almost 7 minutes longer.