Steven Zeitchik over on the Risky Biz Blog confirms that Universal is cutting out a scene from "Bruno" that references Michael Jackson. The studio re-cut the film just hours before its Los Angeles premiere and they're considering removing it from all of the prints before it opens nationwide on July 10.
The scene depicts Bruno, the flamboyant Austrian journalist played by Sacha Baron Cohen, interviewing an unsuspecting LaToya Jackson about a number of topics, including her brother.
Among the gags is a joke about the King of Pop's high-pitched voice, as well as an attempt to discover his contact info (Baron Cohen grabs LaToya's phone), as well as a reference to his trademark white glove, etc, all done in Baron Cohen's characteristically absurdest tone.
I see it as respectful to cut it for the day after his death, but the film comes out in a few weeks and audiences might not find it as shocking (since it seems to mostly gag LaToya and not Michael). We'll have to wait and see if they have to delay the film to cut the scene out of all prints or not.
More news to come! Catch ya' later!
Sources: First Showing, Risky Biz Blog
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2 comments:
Yeah, it might be in bad taste, maybe. But the whole movie looks like it's bad taste personified--which can still be funny, by the way.
So would they just remove this bit from the theatrical version or would we maybe still see this cut scene on a DVD release?
There is a chance it may be cut from theatrical, but it may be kept because (as you said) the film itself is meant to be controversial.
Will it wind up on DVD? I hope so. Either that or it will find its way online.
Reminds me of the Twin Tower scene from "Spider-Man" that was shown in the trailers for the film but was later cut from the theatrical release and is also not on the DVD (though it can be found online).
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