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Entertainment
27 best deleted scenes that completely change the movie
Gem Seddon
Total Film MagazineFebruary 17, 2020, 11:58 AM EST
Editing a movie's a tough gig. Writers write what they believe to be essential, and the director shoots what they deem necessary. Then, editors come along and cut up everything, helping the director decide which lines should go and which scenes are now redundant. Some deleted scenes can even completely change a movie.
But why would a director insist on getting rid of a movie-changing scene? During the editing process, filmmakers are faced with a multitude of decisions: do they keep that dynamite scene wherein the two leads bring their A-game even if it doesn’t forward the plot? Is that witty aside by the snarky comic relief truly necessary? Should the ending really nod toward a sequel even if it’s not been greenlit?
From adding moments of clarity and helping make sense of confusing plot lines to literally ending the movie differently, these are the 27 of the best deleted scenes that completely change a movie.
27. Terminator 3 (2003) – Meet Sgt. Candy
The scene: With more retrofitted plotting than you can shake a T-800’s severed limb at, the Terminator franchise is a happy cobble of movies with wildly mismatched tones. Terminator 3: The Rise of the Machine’s ambition to be a legitimate T2 follow-up is squandered somewhat due to its high ratio of sight gags. While they don’t all land, this cheeky joke snipped away by director Jonathan Mostow fills in a large world-building gap.
In a cutaway to a military training video, we learn that Sergeant Candy is the human inspiration for the T-800 series. Following a complaint from General Brewster over Candy’s natural accent, one of the men at the table pipes up, in Arnie’s voice: “We can fix it.” While it’s not exactly the best joke in the world, it enticingly reveals who designs the Terminators.
26. It (2017) – Georgie retrieves his boat
The scene: Andy Muschietti’s ode to Stephen King’s tome begins with the horrific murder of young Georgie Denborough. Desperate to get his paper boat back after it sails into a storm drain, Georgie meets Pennywise, the “Eater of Worlds” living beneath the town of Derry. Before long, little Georgie is ravaged by the clown, kickstarting a series of events that leads his big brother Bill and his friends to confronting the ancient evil.
In this deleted scene, however, quite the opposite happens. Bill’s little brother swipes back his boat easily, to which Pennywise replies “Aw, shit.” Clearly it’s a joke version of the original brutal scene, but it does raise some interesting questions. What might have happened if this played out? It’s likely The Losers Club would not have pursued Bill Skarsgard’s clown, leaving Pennywise’s reign of terror to go uncontested.
In Bruges (2008) – Harry's flashback
The scene: Martin McDonagh’s black comedy In Bruges balances the brutality of its characters with their insightful, amusing observations on life. That’s where the humour lies, particularly as we spend time with Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson’s crooks on the lam in Bruges. Their boss, on the other hand, has no such introspective side, embracing only his penchant for violence. It’s no secret that the Ralph Fiennes’ Harry is a bastard. Gleeson’s character Ken references his past with the mobster chief, but it’s only in this deleted flashback scene that we learn of his earlier thuggery.
Doctor Who’s Matt Smith plays a younger version of the character in his only scene in the movie, that shows him decapitating someone. It was ultimately excised due to McDonagh’s dissatisfaction with the effects, yet its intent – to justify why Ken and Ray are so terrified of him – is spot-on.
24. The Devil Wears Prada (2006) – (N)ice Queen Miranda
The scene: If there’s one thing made abundantly clear throughout The Devil Wears Prada it's that Miranda Priestly is, well, the devil. Wearing Prada. It’s right there in the title. Yet, this deleted scene flies in the face of everything we know of the fashion magazine editor, as she thanks her long-suffering intern Andy for smoothing over her husband’s raucous behaviour at a black-tie event.
It’s a small moment, yet this dint in Miranda’s steely persona detracts from the movie’s ending when she, for brief flicker, reveals her softer side. Essentially taking all the poison from the movie’s last sting, this out-of-character moment swerves the story into a different territory – one where we don’t ponder Andy’s life choices. It’s a good thing this scene hit the cutting room floor.
23. Get Out (2017) – Is Rose a victim?
The scene: The twist in the tale of Jordan Peele’s Get Out reveals what audiences long-suspected about the Armitage family: they’re evil. In their quest for immortality, matriarch Missy hypnotizes young black men so old white people can snatch and inhabit their bodies. Shortly after we meet her daughter Rose and her boyfriend Chris, Missy attempts to rid him of his smoking habit using that very technique.
What this scene – available to watch on the Huffington Post – proposes is that Rose has also been hypnotized by her mother too. “I had the same thing,” Rose assures Chris. “She hypnotized me when I was in high school for stage fright and I had the craziest nightmares. But, I just remember thinking ... it worked.” It implies that she’s not 100% prime evil but another puppet in the town’s murderous machinations, and also a victim alongside Chris.
23. The Wolverine (2013) – Wolvie’s OG threads
The scene: James Mangold’s first foray into the world of the X-Men saw him tackle Wolverine’s sophomore solo movie. Packed with action galore, the film – while less of a brooding, character-led affair than its successor Logan – has a handful of interesting moments. One of those excised from the theatrical cut arrives at the end of the “Unleashed Edition”. As our weary superhero boards a plane leaving Japan, he’s handed a mystery gift in an ornate box, which is soon revealed to be the character’s signature yellow and brown costume.
This brief glimpse tantalised fans with a “What if?” scenario for future X-Men movies. Had this remained in the film, there’s a strong chance we’d have seen Wolvie wearing his comic-book accurate gear in Days of Future Past. As it stands, Mangold believes that Logan, of all the X-Men, is the one who would never wear a costume to do good.
21. Leon (1994) – Leon shows Mathilda how to shoot
The scene: The International Cut of Leon, The Professional features many scenes not included in the U.S. theatrical release. Following initial test screenings, American audiences found certain moments unsettling and they subsequently received the snip. One has Matilda asking Leon to be her lover, one finds Leon discussing the first time he had his heartbroken, and another sees Matilda puts on a dress in the same room as Leon.
Luc Besson knew he was treading a fine line, so removed most of these moments, but in the process took out several scenes where Leon takes his young apprentice out on jobs and then follows them up with training sequences. Why those scenes didn’t make the final cut is a tough one because they reveal why Matilda becomes such an effective professional herself.
Click through to Page 2 for more of the best deleted scenes
20. Back to the Future (1985) – Marty's dated worries
The scene: Sometimes filmmakers wisely choose to remove things that should never have been written into the script in the first place. Back to the Future, which has occupied a warm space in moviegoers’ hearts since 1985, had several scenes snipped for expediency that wound up removing another offensive aside.
As Doc Brown and Marty prepare for their “weather experiment,” they’re interrupted by a passing cop, who asks if they have a permit for what they’re doing. In the original version, Doc hands over a $50 note to bribe the police officer, after which a pale-faced Marty expresses anxiety to Doc about having to woo his own mother: “This is the type of thing that could screw me up permanently – what if I go back to the future and I end up being… gay?” Facepalm. Yeah, that comment has not aged well at all.
19. Thor (2011) – Erik casually mentions SWORD
The scene: A common thread throughout the Marvel Cinematic Universe is the existence of S.H.I.E.L.D. First introduced during the Iron Man end credits, when we meet Nick Fury, the global organisation – which focuses on aiding Earth-related incidents – serves as a lynchpin for the entire MCU. Who knew there was another similar group, waiting in the wings?
The original ending to Kenneth Branagh’s Thor included a reference to S.W.O.R.D. – the Sentient World Observation and Response Department. While Erik Selvig attempts to locate the Goldilocks of Asgard using a wormhole, he mentions to Jane and Darcy that they should share their data with both S.H.I.E.L.D. and S.W.O.R.D. Acknowledging that there’s a much, much bigger world out there makes sense as the MCU continues to spiral out into the universe. The Spider-Man: Far From Home post-credits scene features Fury and Maria Hill discussing the formation of a new organisation with the Skrulls – could that be S.W.O.R.D.?
18. The Iron Giant (1999) – Robot army
The scene: This animated cult classic follows a robot that crash lands onto Earth and befriends a young boy in rural America. Brad Bird’s story purposefully avoids any mention of the robot’s true nature. Is it good-hearted, or does it deserve a prodding by government agents? Bird storyboarded a scene that delves into the Iron Giant’s past then abandoned it due to financial restraints.
The 2015 remastered version fleshed out this half-cooked scene that appears after the "souls don’t die" moment, and finds the Giant dreaming about his history. It’s here that we learn the Iron Giant is from a race of robots hell-bent on destroying other planets.
17. X-Men: First Class (2011) – Dragneto
The scene: X-Men: First Class delves into the history of the costumed mutants, shedding light on how the team came to be. At the core of its formation is the friendship between Professor X and Magneto. Years before their rivalry, the two mutants were the best of pals, as evidenced by this scene found on the Blu-ray extras.
During a recruitment drive for Professor X’s School for Gifted Youngsters, Xavier puts a glamour on one prospective student, making them see Erik in full-on drag. Michael Fassbender’s performance makes the scene one of the funniest in the franchise. However, had it been included, it might have been a tad difficult to fear Magneto after he’s been made the object of ridicule.
16. The Abyss (1986) – The alien watchers
The scene: James Cameron’s director’s cut of The Abyss includes an additional 28 minutes of footage! While plenty of that runtime fleshes out character moments, the big whammy comes at the end. As Bud (Ed Harris) converses with the aliens, he’s shown a giant screen broadcasting a news report on the expanding Russian military presence, followed swiftly by a seismologist’s live report on a huge wave threatening to wipe out a California beach. This cuts to shots of thousand foot-high waves teetering above coasts across the world, threatening humanity’s extinction.
It’s revealed that the aliens control the water and live in fear of humans starting a nuclear war. “Where do you get off passing judgment on us? How do know they'll actually do it?" Bud cries, causing the waves to retreat. It adds a whole twist of new information: the aliens are likely what caused the initial problem to begin with.
15. Kill Bill Vol. 2 (2004) – Bill’s showdown
The scene: It’s surprising that Quentin Tarantino excised this pertinent scene in Kill Bill Vol. 2, namely because of his propensity for extended fight sequences and revelatory character moments. In this deleted flashback, the true nature of ruthless villain Bill (Keith Carradine) is unmasked, as he and Beatrix encounter Michael Jai White, an apprentice whose master was killed by Bill years previously.
White sets his gang on Bill, who dispenses with the crew of thugs. Switching between swordplay and hand-to-hand combat, he wipes ‘em out like it's no bother and eventually slashes White’s throat, leaving him to die. The entire fight unfolds while Beatrix watches. This hammers home what she truly faces later on when she must confront Bill: the strong likelihood that she won’t emerge the victor in their battle.
14. The Shining (1980) – Ullman was evil
The scene: This deleted scene seemingly proves a widely discussed theory that Jack’s boss, Stuart Ullman, is a part of the hotel’s ancient evil. The scene was included in the original theatrical release – for one week, that is, until Kubrick asked projectionists to remove it.
After Wendy and Danny’s lucky escape from the hotel, they’re visited at the hospital by The Overlook’s manager who checks in on them. As he leaves, he tosses Danny the tennis ball his father bounced against the walls of the sinister hotel. How on earth did Ullman get it in his possession? Possibly the reason Kubrick snipped the scene was to eliminate the idea that Ullman was too part of the evil. Alas, the scene didn’t survive – that we know of – so we can’t see how it played out.
13. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (2003) – Saruman’s death
The scene: Look, there are a lot of characters in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. There are even more in Tolkien’s original tomes. That being the case, Jackson took liberties with the source material, including the death of one of the franchise’s biggest bads. Saruman stirred up plenty of disharmony in the first two films, which is why it’s so unusual that Jackson removed his death scene.
Following his capture at Helm’s Deep, Saruman is incarcerated in the Tower of Orthanc where he’s faced by Gandalf, Aragorn, and the forces of Rohan. Gandalf attempts to turn Saruman into an informant, but the plan goes awry, leading to Saruman falling from the Tower to a rather gruesome death. In the theatrical cut, his death is mentioned in a bit of throwaway dialogue. While time restraints are a real issue with a saga of this magnitude, relegating the demise of a key villain down to one line is a real zinger. That’s why actor Christopher Lee refused to attend the movie’s premiere.
12. T2: Judgment Day (1991) – Sarah resets T800’s chip
The scene: Another James Cameron movie that boasts a superior extended edition. The Terminator sequel shows the continued threat of Skynet and features a reprogrammed T-800 being sent back to help John Connor. One key moment in the movie arrives at the midway point – during a major lull in the action – when John, Sarah, and the T-800 hide in an abandoned gas station. While they repair the machine, John takes the time to ask the Terminator how his mechanical mind operates: the T-800 replies that he has a neural-net processor – he’s able to learn.
However, in the deleted scene which continues after that very moment, it’s revealed that Skynet sets every Terminator to read-only, so they cannot learn unless their hardware is manually reset. John and Sarah power down the machine and begin the task, but Sarah attempts to smash the chip, expressing her distrust over “it”. John argues to not destroy it, displaying his first signs of authority. It’s the one scene that Cameron has said he misses, as it bears significant weight on John’s future as the leader of the resistance.
11. Superman II (1980) – Superman's not a murderer!
The scene: The theatrical cut and the subsequent Richard Donner cut of Superman II feature the same outcome for General Zod and his acolytes, Ursa and Non. Lured to the Fortress of Solitude by the Man of Steel, the trio’s powers are revoked before Supes and Lois Lane… uhhh, kick them down an icy crevasse to die? Sure, the behind-the-scenes troubles which befell Superman II are extensive, stemming from original director Richard Donner being replaced by Jack Lester midway through the shoot. But that doesn’t account for this wild diversion from Superman’s sturdier-than-vibranium ethics.
This deleted scene averts the Kryptonian deaths and instead sees the Arctic police (?) arrive to cart them off to jail. While it’s a great outcome, in that Superman is no longer a killer, it’s still a little odd that the trio are never heard from again...
Click through to Page 3 for more of the best deleted scenes
10. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Pt. 1 (2010) –Voldemort’s curse
The scene: Much like saying Macbeth (oops!) incurs terrible luck for stage actors, in the Potterverse saying Voldemort carries more heft than a bad performance. Referred to as “you know who” and “he who must not be named”, it’s never revealed why characters are so deathly afraid to speak his true name.
Snuck into a deleted scene, Ron interrupts Hermione right as she is about to say his name, telling her and Harry the truth about Voldemort’s curse. Ron explains that when a person speaks it aloud, the Dark Prince and his followers are then able to track that person. J.K. Rowling included this tidbit in the novels, so it’s odd that this key piece of plot info was excised from the big screen adaptations considering how important it is to the story.
9. I Am Legend (2007) – Humans are the ‘monsters’
The scene: I Am Legend’s theatrical ending wraps up the tale of horrific monsters, known as Darkseekers, when Will Smith’s uber-buff scientist Robert Neville palms off a vaccine cure to his two friends, then blows himself up along with a load of the beasts. So far, so Hollywood. The film’s original ending, however, walks a far less explicit ethical line.
It’s revealed that the Darkseekers broke into Veille's lab to rescue one of their own whom Neville had captured and mercilessly tortured throughout the movie. This makes the meaning behind the film’s title clear – that in this new world order, the ‘monsters’ are normal and are afraid of humans, one legend in particular because he murders Darkseekers. It’s a shame this darker, less sentimental ending was switched, it certainly doesn’t pander to happy endings, instead dropping a Fight Club-esque twist thanks to the film’s darkly delicious restricted narration.
8. The Terminator (1984) – CyberDyne’s origins
The scene: The Terminator ends when Sarah and Kyle lure the T-800 into a factory. Kyle perishes after setting off a bomb to slow down the hobbling endoskeleton, leaving Sarah to squash the murderous ‘bot in a hydraulic press and uttering the classic line: “You’re terminated, fucker!”
In the extended ending, the police are on the scene, insisting that no-one touch anything until they are done. That doesn’t stop a group of suits from picking through the wreckage for salvageable parts of the Terminator. As Sarah is wheeled into an ambulance, the camera pans upwards to the factory’s signage revealing that it’s… CyberDyne Systems, the very company that goes on to develop the technology which leads to Skynet’s creation.
This deleted ending follows on from an earlier subplot where Kyle tells Sarah about CyberDyne, prompting her desire to blow up the factory. James Cameron removed the scene after being dissatisfied with the performances of the two actors. However, it sets up T2 nicely as it makes sense that Sarah is so irate when she learns from Miles Dyson that CyberDyne covered up the original source of the “seriously advanced” tech.
7. Alien (1979) – The beast’s life cycle
The scene: Ridley Scott’s 2003 Director’s Cut reinstated several key scenes to his 1979 masterpiece, including a significant change to the alien’s life cycle. During Ripley’s final run towards the Narcissus escape pod, she discovers the xenomorph’s nest where Captain Dallas and Brett are cocooned. Dallas, barely alive, begs Ripley to kill him. Brett on the other hand looks inhuman: he has almost finished metamorphosing into an alien egg.
Had this remained in the theatrical cut, due to the huge changes this makes to the alien’s entire reproductive cycle, Aliens would no longer feature its almighty queen. Scott removed it for pacing reasons to keep the film’s finale ticking along, yet, it its excision went on to have much greater impact. Come on, can you really imagine Aliens without the queen?
6. Independence Day (1996) – David’s skills explained
The scene: Moviegoers flocked to see Independence Day in the summer of 1996, not for its realistic depiction of technology, but to witness the world unite in overthrowing an alien invasion. That being said, many folks took umbrage with one particular plot point that saw David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) write a virus on his laptop able to destabilise the alien mothership. It is a little far-fetched that a ‘90s-era Mac possesses the technological wallop to affect alien technology. However, director Roland Emmerich does address this quibble in a deleted scene.
In the cut sequence, following on from David’s earlier realisation that the ships are all coordinating using a specific frequency, Levinson goes along with Brent Spiner’s Dr. Okun board an old ship from Roswell. Once on the fighter vessel, David realises the similarities between the alien’s tech and the alien’s signal and finagles a way to reverse-engineer the virus. It apparently has something to do with binary code?
5. The Thing (1982) – The Husky lives
The scene: John Carpenter’s The Thing is no stranger to fan theories, namely because its esteemed filmmaker refuses to confirm or deny who exactly is The Thing at the end of the film. The theatrical cut closes in on the two sole survivors, Childs and Macready. Having blown to smithereens their research station, the pair hunker down in the freezing cold, sharing a bottle of scotch to “see what happens.” The big question here is: who’s human and who’s not?
While Carpenter fought for that ending on account of its ultimate ambiguity (studio heads wanted another clear-cut ending where Macready lives), this alternate ending shows one of the Husky dogs leaving the Antarctic base, charging off into the wintry wilds. It certainly implies that Macready and Childs’ valiant efforts were all for naught as the alien escapes, ready to infect another camp.
4. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) – Boromir’s true intentions
The scene: Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy is approximately 17 years long. Despite that epic runtime, it still received extensive trimming to keep it as concise as possible. One victim of the snip is this key flashback sequence from The Two Towers which eventually surfaced in the Extended Edition, proving that neither Boromir nor Faramir were your typical savages in pursuit of The One Ring.
While Faramir (David Wenham) cradles his brother’s broken horn, he recalls a joyous day in the past when Boromir (Sean Bean) took back Osgiliath for Gondor. We learn why the brothers are so desperate to get their hands on the ring: it’s revealed that their father, Denethor, asks Boromir to travel to Rivendell to acquire the ring and return it to Gondor. While both siblings were shown in a less-than-favourable light in the theatrical cuts, this deleted scene unearths their real intentions – to serve their father.
3. Aliens (1986) - Ripley’s daughter
The scene: Having survived the events of Alien, Ellen Ripley awakens to discover she’s “lucky to be alive, kiddo” after being picked up by a deep salvage crew. Not only that, she’s spent 57 years in hypersleep. Plagued by sweat-inducing nightmares of the xenomorph Ripley agrees to blast off with the colonial marines in their mission to help rescue a colony on LV-426 – the same planet the Nostromo sat down on in Alien.
In the Director’s Cut, before she departs Ripley asks Burke about the status of her daughter, whom she promised she’d be back for her 11th birthday. Burke hands over a photograph of an old woman (a real-life photo of Sigourney Weaver’s mother, Elizabeth Inglis), revealing that Amanda Ripley died two years previously at age 66. Ripley’s response offers up a powerful moment, a soul-shaking scene that essentially serves as motivation for her entire future relationship with Newt. It alters how the audience perceives her motivations, why she will do anything to rescue the young orphan from the queen’s nest in the final act. Apparently, Sigourney was furious when she learned this pivotal moment had been cut.
2. Return of the Jedi (1983) – Yoda tells the truth
The scene: Arguably the biggest reveal in the Star Wars franchise hinges on Luke Skywalker’s knowledge that Darth Vader is, in fact, his father Anakin. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda, the two figures who possessed this knowledge all along, spend plenty of time during the original trilogy keeping this information from Luke. Their desire to keep this crucial piece of information under wraps, while still steering the young Jedi apprentice toward an antagonistic relationship with Vader, is frankly cunning as hell.
So, why did they do it? A deleted scene which emerged on an out-of-print Laserdisc shows that one of those figures had reservations. When Luke returns to Degobah to visit Yoda on his deathbed, the pint-sized Master reveals that it was he who forbade his Jedi friend from doing so: “Obi-Wan would have told you long ago, had I let him.” Interestingly, this presents Obi-Wan in a more positive light, while casting Yoda in a more ambiguous one.
1 Blade Runner (1982) – Gaff leaves Deckard a unicorn
The scene: Ever since Blade Runner reached cinemas, audiences have pondered whether Harrison Ford’s agent Rick Deckard is actually a replicant. For all of its unique world-building and blistering neo-futuristic visuals, it was this matter which captivated fans for decades. Many of the movie’s key players – including Ford himself – insist that Deckard is human, despite the fact his eyes glow red like a Replicant at one point. Some twenty years later, Ridley Scott put several scenes back into the movie, one of which appears to answer that question.
Deckard’s reinstated dream sequence – in which he manifests a unicorn – imbues a later moment with greater significance. During the scramble to leave Rachel’s apartment, Deckard bends down to retrieve a silver origami unicorn seemingly left on the floor by Deckard’s former partner. Gaff’s words ring out – “It’s too bad she won’t live, but then again, who does?” – suggesting that he planted the unicorn. This harks back to the dream, and has led many die-hard fans to believe that when these two scenes are taken into consideration there’s no other way of looking at it: Deckard’s a Replicant.
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