"Gangs Of New York" Documentary Reveals Harvey Weinstein Interference

What is your favorite Martin Scorsese film? My top 3 are 'The Aviator', 'The Departed', and 'The Wolf Of Wall Street.'

Hollywood Insider Jordan Ruimy's World Of Reel is reporting details for the documentary about the making of 'Gangs Of New York' from Rebecca Miller called "Mr. Scorsese.' The film is five hours, and there's a part where director Martin Scorsese talks about how now-jailed producer Harvey Weinstein screwed with the editing cut.

Scorsese's director's cut was apparently 216 minutes, which was trimmed down to 167 minutes in the editing room. There was a 12-minute sequence at Tammany Hall that was instead put in throughout the film in pieces. The big change was that it added voiceover narration, which many viewers felt was unnecessary.

Weinstein has spoken before with Vulture proud of his interference: "So Marty presents the final cut of the movie to me as a final-cut director, and it’s three hours and thirty-six minutes. If you thought there was action in ‘Gangs of New York’, the movie, you should have seen that editing room! But we got the movie down to two hours and 36."

Jeffrey Wells of Hollywood Elsewhere saw the director's cut in 2001 with other press journalists: "The work-print version [I saw] is longer by roughly 30 minutes, and more filled out and expressive as a result, but that’s not the thing. The main distinction for me is that it’s plainer and therefore more cinematic, as it doesn’t use the narration track that, in my view, pollutes the official version. It also lacks a musical score, with only some drums and temp music. I don’t believe Scorsese for a second when he says the theatrical version coming out this Friday is the one that bears his personal stamp of preference."

"My guess is that Harvey’s mitts are all over this puppy. Scorsese may have his weaknesses or indulgences as a filmmaker, but he’s always let his films play at their own pace and allow them to be true to themselves — their own tempo, themes, moods. He’s used narration before, but never in such a way that the narration wound up feeling like an encumbrance. And he’s never been one to speed his films up when they weren’t working."

Do you want to see a director's cut of 'Gangs Of New York'. Comment below with your thoughts.

Visit Dan Lalonde Films For All Technology And Entertainment News

Source: World Of Reel

Photo Credit: Miramax