Cutting Room Floor

My Editing Station
Originally uploaded by subatomicfilms
Editing is another part of the directorial role that calls for tough and quick decision-making. There is so much agonizing done, about performances, the delivery of lines, gestures it can become quickly obsessive.

In extreme cases, entire characters are taken out if the performance is not working, or if it just convolutes the story. IFC has a list of actors that have ended up on the cutting room floor, some of them really interesting: Harrison Ford was in E.T?

My favourite is the case of Adrien Brody whining when his starring role in Malick's The Thin Red Line was whittled down to a supporting role. He's complained ever since, even though it was that film that he pretty much owes his career to.