Some wishes disappear with time, but not Zack Snyder‘s hope for a director’s cut of Sucker Punch. Staying true to his vision for Snyder Cut releases (referring to extended cuts of his films, such as Zack Snyder’s Justice League), he still has plans to explore more about the film’s narrative potential.
Speaking to Letterboxd, the filmmaker shared his intentions to release the director’s cut sometime in the future, as well as the 2011 action-fantasy movie’s alternate ending with protagonist Babydoll (Emily Browning), which was deemed “too weird” by the studio for the theatrical release.
“I’ve never gotten around to doing the director’s cut. I still plan to at some point,” he said. “But in the original ending, when Babydoll is in the chair in the basement with Blue – she’s already been lobotomized – when the cop shines the light on her, the set breaks apart, and she stands up, and she sings a song on stage.
“She sings, ‘Ooh, Child, things are gonna get easier.’ Blondie, and all the people that have been killed, join in, and it’s the idea that in a weird way, even though she’s lobotomized, she’s kind of stuck in this infinite loop of euphoric victory,” he added. “It’s weirdly not optimistic and optimistic at the same time. That’s kind of what the tone was at the end. We tested it, and the studio thought it was too weird, so we changed it.”
It’s been more than a decade since the Sucker Punch‘s release, but Snyder hopes that audiences will “get to see [the director’s cut] at some point”.
The original feature likely suffered from the removal of several crucial scenes to hit the PG-13 rating, ending up as an underperforming entry at the box office. It also received generally negative reviews, with an R-rated extended cut of the movie later included in its Blu-ray release — not to be mistaken for this unreleased director’s cut.
“[Sucker Punch] was the first time where I really faced, like, a true radical restructuring of the film for it to be more commercial,” Snyder told Vanity Fair in 2021. “And there is a director’s cut of that movie that has yet to be released. I’ll say that out loud.”
But first, there are more Snyder Cuts to expect. Next on Snyder’s list of releases are two Rebel Moon movies for Netflix, which will both get extended director’s cuts at some point. Debuting 22 December, the sci-fi adventure follows a woman with a mysterious past (Sofia Boutella, Prisoners of the Ghostland), as she teams up with warriors from neighbouring planets to save her peaceful colony from an inevitable invasion. A release date has yet to be announced for Rebel Moon Part 2.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
Trinity Sun
Natalie
