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Post by thathoboravioli on Aug 22, 2020 0:24:47 GMT -5
One of these days, some insane person might hack into Paramount or DreamWorks or Nickelodeon and steal some of that, though that'll likely never happen
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crono288
Catastrophic Captain
Posts: 70
Likes: 45
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Post by crono288 on Aug 23, 2020 2:27:16 GMT -5
What was the situation with the script draft(s?) held by the Library of Congress (or something) - not available to be viewed by the general public?
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Post by gothicarchiesfan on Nov 12, 2020 7:04:40 GMT -5
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Onder
Reptile Researcher
Posts: 28
Likes: 22
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Post by Onder on Nov 14, 2020 1:13:20 GMT -5
I know I'm a bit late to the conversation, but I just thought I'd share some of my thoughts on the film. I sometimes hate to admit it, but tonally, there's a lot that the film gets right. To me, the books just have this incredibly unique aesthetic that I don't think is perfectly captured anywhere outside of the writing, Brett Helquist's illustrations, and the music of the Gothic Archies. However, this film, and particularly its score, come pretty close. I've said this many times before, but I think that if the film had removed some of the more goth/steampunk elements of the costumes, props, and sets, the tone would've been basically perfect. Some of the standouts for me in this department are Uncle Monty's house (and Lousy Lane), that one shot at the end with the trees hanging over the road, and the appearance of the mansion before it's burned down. For me, these specific moments, and many others throughout the film, capture the spirit of Lemony Snicket's writing so well. Briny Beach is also FANTASTIC. I mentioned Thomas Newman's score a bit ago, and for good reason. I think it's one of the best film scores ever written, and I was honestly surprised it didn't win the Oscar until I looked and saw how stiff the competition was that year. Newman's use of irregular instruments and sounds is just perfect, and his music brings a deep sadness to the movie that accentuates some of the other elements and really makes the tone feel unique and similar to the books. Like the Netflix show, I don't think the movie ever gets dark enough. I know people sometimes say that the books aren't actually as dark as people think they are, but I still remember feeling incredibly rebellious when reading about some of the particularly awful things from the books, such as Olaf's scratchy fingers or Violet cutting her shoulder open while trying to use her grappling hook. The darkness in the books has a roughness and is often accompanied by a feeling of deep dread due to Handler's incredible writing, and I wish the movie had gone just a bit darker, and not always brought so much comedy in right away after a dark moment. That being said, there are definitely moments I think the movie does a good job with the darkness. Olaf's knife glinting in the dark hallway is pretty great, and even though the Netflix show tried to make the Klaus slap moment more serious, I think the movie actually did a pretty great job with that part. Overall, I obviously don't think it was a great idea to smush three books into one movie, and there are lots of other problems with casting, humor, acting, etc., but as a massive fan of the books, in my mind the movie has several successes as well. - I’ve always loved the way the mansion is portrayed in the film. - “The Baudelaire Orphans” has this sense of whimsy and sadness to it that’s tonally perfect for the books. Newman is a legend. - Slowing down the pace and removing some of Olaf’s comedic relief would’ve really done wonders for the film. Even including some of the deleted scenes would’ve helped audiences identify with the Bauds more. I feel like the kids are hardly given a chance to breathe bc they’re constantly reacting to whatever scheme CO is cooking up. One of those rare instances where I think a movie wound up being too short. And yeah, it arguably might not have matched the books, but I tend to agree that a darker tone would’ve made for a better film overall.
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Post by gothicarchiesfan on Dec 7, 2020 6:34:41 GMT -5
Hello all, this post came about because I recently got granted access to some photos and marketing materials for the 2004 film that were previously unavailable. In them, I found yet more examples of big scenes that ended up being chopped out of the movie. So here is an addendum to my four previous deleted scenes posts in this thread. (At some point I'll also get around to making a proper deleted scenes thread here with every scene placed in order, but that'll have to wait a while until I finish my Christmas gift for the forum.) This first one isn't a deleted scene per se, instead, it's actually an unfinished version of the Briny Beach section from a promotional disc given out just a few weeks before the movie's release. It has different narration from Lemony Snicket and a temporary score. The scene as it plays in the film is also included below. As you can see, this movie was still being so drastically recut and restructured mere weeks before it came out, that the narration and music still weren't even close to being finished.
Here we see a deleted shot of Sunny chewing on something in her room. In the original cut of the film all three children had much longer introductions, including scenes where they were each doing something in their rooms before they got called down to dinner by their parents. Originally Olaf's tour of his house was going to be much longer and basically encompass every single room, this got shortened in post-production, likely for timing reasons. This sequence would have taken place after the scene where the children build their sanctuary. Instead of cutting directly to the custody hearing, all three would have been rudely awakened by Count Olaf who would then drag them out of the house and to the court. This scene would also have shown the troupe lazing around in a drunken stupor on the house's ground floor with the two white-faced woman in a state of undress, implying Olaf had slept with them. This is a very rough attempt to show how it would've gone with a clip from one of the TV spots spliced into the finished movie. This is a deleted moment from the scene where the Baudelaires get taken out of Olaf's custody. Originally there was to have been a lengthy dialogue scene between Mr Poe and the children as he drives them to Uncle Monty's house and pulls into the drive. Intruigingly, this isn't a set photo but an actual still from the movie itself that was distributed to members of the press mere weeks before it was set to release. This means, much like the deleted ending where Olaf escapes, some version of the scene actually had completed VFX and colour grading before it got cut. It's late deletion also explains why, in the finished movie, there's a very jarring cut from the car driving down Lousy Lane, to it pulling into Uncle Monty's driveway. Here we have yet another still from the movie, this one showing a shot of the Incredibly Deadly Viper in its cage. For some reason the executives didn't like it so most of its scenes and close-ups got cut out of the movie. This one clearly stayed in for most of the post-production process before also being cut. Here we have yet another major scene, and indeed an entire supporting character who got entirely cut from the movie. Instead of cutting away from the children at Damocles Dock, we would have followed them talking amongst each other as they walked towards the lakeside town. The children would've then been met by Captain Sam, a local sailboat rental agent who also did a number of odd jobs around the town like selling food, giving tours, and driving a taxi cab. He would have then driven them up to Aunt Josephine's house and departed. A later scene, also cut, would then reveal that Count Olaf had drowned him in the Lake and stolen his clothes/business. (Captain Sam was played by Canadian comedian Wayne Flemming, one of Jim Carrey's mentors and someone who often had small roles in his movies.) This is a set photo of another cut scene between Violet and Klaus, where they would have talked about Aunt Josephine and Klaus' continuing suspicions about their parent's death and Olaf/Monty's spyglasses (a subplot that was mostly cut from the finished movie). Another scene would have then followed which would show the children attempting to relax in Aunt Josephine's home until she called them for lunch. Finally we have this section from the film's climax, where Violet is led unto the stage to marry Count Olaf, with Justice Strauss unknowingly aiding Count Olaf. The film's climax ended up getting massively reworked in post-production with over 20 minutes getting sheared right out of it. Bonus StuffA costume test for the original Stephano design. One where he was modelled after European swashbucklers like Antonio Banderas. After finalising the design and doing some filming on the TRR sequence, Carrey decided to totally change the character and had the script refilmed and rewritten accordingly. Just some alternate shots that didn't end up in the finished movie but did work their way into various pieces of marketing materials.
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Post by twigz on Dec 7, 2020 6:55:54 GMT -5
Amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Post by R. on Dec 7, 2020 9:32:56 GMT -5
WOW!
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Post by misstastrophe on Dec 7, 2020 13:56:28 GMT -5
The original Stefano costume picture is awesome! Thanks for all the work & updating.
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Post by catastrophist on Dec 7, 2020 16:33:39 GMT -5
Wow, great detective work, as usual, gothicarchiesfan! Since a lot of material cut from the film ended up in Daniel's scripts for the show, I suspect the missing Lousy Lane scene was fairly close to the conversation in Mr. Poe's car that you see at the beginning of The Reptile Room: Part One.
I'm honestly shocked at how many of those cut scenes made it through the post production process (including completed VFX on the Incredibly Deadly Viper!). Maybe #releasethesilberlingcut isn't such a pipe dream after all...
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Post by thathoboravioli on Dec 7, 2020 18:49:49 GMT -5
However a complete release of Newman's soundtrack is definitely a pipe dream imo since the tapes are probably old and decayed or the digital files are now deleted (unless they are still lying around somewhere)
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Post by gothicarchiesfan on Dec 8, 2020 1:02:49 GMT -5
However a complete release of Newman's soundtrack is definitely a pipe dream imo since the tapes are probably old and decayed or the digital files are now deleted (unless they are still lying around somewhere) That's certainly a possibility but I don't think you should rule out an expanded release of the soundtrack yet. Even films from the 30s and 40s that had the scores stored on magnetic reel to reel tape still exist, so it's highly likely that this does too given that it was recorded and mixed digitally. I think the real pipe dream is still a director's cut as that has far more roadblocks ahead of it than the soundtrack does, the most important one being that we don't even know if Paramount/Dreamworks even kept any of the original raw dailies from the film.
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Post by Poe's Coats Host Toast on Dec 8, 2020 15:52:32 GMT -5
Wow, that was very insightful and interesting to read, gothicarchiesfan! I'm kind of curious how you know details like what was supposed to have happened in the stills from deleted scenes and such... Not doubting your work, just curious.
I liked the "Good morning" deleted clip. I'm glad they avoided to include many close ups of the Deadly Viper, though, as the CGI probably would have aged badly, as can already be seen from the still.
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Post by gothicarchiesfan on Dec 8, 2020 17:12:16 GMT -5
Wow, that was very insightful and interesting to read, gothicarchiesfan! I'm kind of curious how you know details like what was supposed to have happened in the stills from deleted scenes and such... Not doubting your work, just curious. I liked the "Good morning" deleted clip. I'm glad they avoided to include many close ups of the Deadly Viper, though, as the CGI probably would have aged badly, as can already be seen from the still. Thanks. Most of the information that accompanies the stills is a combination of extrapolating from the photos, already existing deleted scenes that are on the DVD, guesswork based off of things like the concept artwork for Daniel Handler's original script, test screening reports, and obvious cuts in the finished film. For example, in the case of the photo with the children in hammocks, I know that it has to follow the scene where Aunt Josephine tells the children about her love of grammar and before the one where she serves them the soup because every scene at her house leads directly into the next one except for those two.
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Post by Hermes on Dec 8, 2020 17:32:07 GMT -5
Wow, that was very insightful and interesting to read, gothicarchiesfan! I'm kind of curious how you know details like what was supposed to have happened in the stills from deleted scenes and such... Not doubting your work, just curious. A more likely candidate than Bear for being DH, perhaps? (Actualy I have seen GAF, and he is not DH, but it's an interesting thought.)
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Post by thathoboravioli on Dec 8, 2020 21:02:30 GMT -5
However a complete release of Newman's soundtrack is definitely a pipe dream imo since the tapes are probably old and decayed or the digital files are now deleted (unless they are still lying around somewhere) That's certainly a possibility but I don't think you should rule out an expanded release of the soundtrack yet. Even films from the 30s and 40s that had the scores stored on magnetic reel to reel tape still exist, so it's highly likely that this does too given that it was recorded and mixed digitally. I think the real pipe dream is still a director's cut as that has far more roadblocks ahead of it than the soundtrack does, the most important one being that we don't even know if Paramount/Dreamworks even kept any of the original raw dailies from the film. Fair point. I hope for at least a bootleg expanded score release, sometimes bootlegs have more material than the officially released expanded scores (stares at Harry Potter's three alternate Diagon Alley intros)
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