Harvey vs Marty: NY Times article on Gangs of NY (1 Viewer)

[Guy Martin]

Folks-
Here's a pretty interesting article from the NY Times on the infighting between Martin Scorcese and Harvey Weinstein over the final cut of the film:
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/07/movies/07GANG.html
I hope Scorcese wins this fight and gets his version in theaters. It's gratifiying to know that both Scorcese and DiCaprio cared so much about the film that they gave up part of their paychecks to make sure they could make it even better. Hopefully Harvey Scissorhands will see the light and let them finish the film (and maybe even give them back some of their money?).
- Guy

 

[Michael Reuben]

Both Variety and TV Guide are reporting today that the final cut has been locked (subject to final tweaking and a possible reshoot of the ending), and the film will be released at Christmas.

M.

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

Here's the Variety article:

HOLLYWOOD -- After months of sometimes vexed negotiations over the release date and running time of Martin Scorsese's 19th century epic "Gangs of New York," Miramax and Scorsese have reached a consensus.

Pic, first slated for Oscar contention last fall, will now bow Christmas week. The film's running time, which once stood at nearly three hours, has been trimmed to under two hours and 40 minutes.

Disclosure of the release date and running time would seem to refute a story that the New York Times played on its Sunday edition front page headlined "Two Hollywood Titans Brawl Over a Gang Epic." Story suggests that fights over running time were continuing; the combatants supposedly are Harvey Weinstein and his director Martin Scorsese, both New York-based.

A new ending might be shot, according to the story, and no release date had been chosen. The article also put the budget at $103 million, vastly lower than insiders anticipate.

Speculation has circulated recently that Miramax would screen a segment of the pic -- perhaps a 25-minute excerpt -- at Cannes, but the company has no official plans for that.

Miramax has a lot riding on the pic. Its scenes of explicit street violence in downtown Manhattan gave its producers second thoughts about releasing the pic soon after Sept. 11.

But as the release date has dragged out -- a costly process for a pic budgeted at close to $100 million -- Miramax co-head Harvey Weinstein and Scorsese have dickered over final cut.

That debate appears to have finally been resolved. Though tiny elements of the film may still be tweaked before its release, the final edit is now locked in.

~Edwin

 

[Greg_S_H]

Hmm. I thought this thread was going to have something to do with Jimmy Stewart and Ernest Borgnine.