Synopsis:

This is the version that studios used to determine audience reaction and to test if the film would work. It has an entirely different ending than the final release, which the test audience did not like, but in fact is a much more expected and logical one.

Intentions:

To re-create the original version of the movie.

Change List:

This is the version that studios used to determine audience reaction and to test if the film would work. Alex Forrest (Glenn Close) was originally scripted to end the film differntly. The result is a differnt path for Dan (Michael Douglas) in the movie with a dramatically different last 20 minutes (don’t want to spoil it completely. In fact all the clues to the originally shot ending are in the film. It is telegraphed in advance and I recall expecting that “alternate ending” when I saw the film. Although Beth (Ann Archer) saves the day (though in a different way), test audiences did not respond well to the film as originally concieved. They felt Beth deserved revenge, particularly in view of her threat to kill Alex if she came near the family again. This resulted in a three-week reshoot for the action-filled sequence in the bathroom and Alex’s death by gunshot as originally released in the theatrical version. Her shooting by Beth juxtaposes the two characters, with Alex becoming the victim and Beth taking violent action to protect her family. The apparent death in the bath device was inspired by the French film “Les Diaboliques (1954)”. In the 2002 Special Edition DVD, Close comments that she had concerns re-shooting the movie’s ending because she believed, and was backed by psychiatrists, that the character would have taken the course of action as originally depicted. She gave in on her concerns, however, and recorded the new sequence after having fought against the change for two weeks The movie was initially released in Japan with the original ending. The original ending first appeared on a special edition VHS and LaserDisc release by Paramount in 1992, and was included on the film’s DVD release several years later. This fan edit re-instates that ending which required aspect ratio correction, sound effects and ambient sound to be added, colour correction, the extension of one critical shot (via a slow mo slight of hand) and crucially the insertion of the appropriate piece of music from the opera, Madam Butterfly.

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