Well, TIFF is now over and Toronto is getting back to normal and for Madonna, who has journeyed to Italy and Canada with her sophomore directorial effort “W.E.,” she’s likely glad to have a moment to breathe and get out of the spotlight. To put it kindly, the reception to the film has been chilly. Our man in Venice called the film “a royal disaster” while others hoping to find something positive in the film have noted it’s beautiful set and costume design, solid score by Abel Korzeniowski, with some much more optimistic folks saying it could possibly be an Oscar contender in those former categories. The Weinstein Company, who have set the film for a release on December 9th have remained remarkably quiet about Madge’s movie thus far but it appears Harvey is getting out his scissors.
Both Baz Bamigboye and the New York Post that Madonna is being urged it cut about ten minutes from the movie. And it seems to be something the singer/director/actress has been thinking about already telling Baz in Venice that “maybe it needs a bit of this and a bit of that, and maybe it is still a work in progress.”
So, what exactly has to be clipped from “W.E.”? Apparently the movie has way too many shots of hallways with an executive telling the Daily Mail writer, “We see shots of a lot of corridors, so they can go, and other scenes can be trimmed.” But of course, nothing is definite just yet with the New York Post saying that Harvey is still delicately approaching Madge and her ego to get her back into the editing bay to cut down the movie which now runs just shy of two hours. Our advice? Don’t give her any hydrangeas to try and smooth things over.
And all of this said, a movie getting nipped and tucked between its festival release and theatrical run is pretty standard. “Blue Valentine” saw about ten minutes or so removed between its Sundance premiere and eventual arthouse release, while more recently Kevin Smith snipped a small bit of “Red State” after it unspooled in Park City. So while many will likely blow this bit of news out of proportion, its pretty regular practice with directors often using feedback from festival crowds to continue to tinker with their flims. However, whether or not editing will do much to change the already sour reputation “W.E.” has, remains to be seen. The film will next face the gauntlet of the public and critics when it hits the BFI London Film Festival next month.
