These background stories could've completely ruined our favourite films...
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00 I imagine that when writing a screenplay, it's difficult to strike the right balance
00:03 between focusing on a storyline and keeping things tight, and giving too little outside
00:08 information leaving the world feeling a bit barren.
00:11 This is usually where subplots come in handy, offering a bit of support without changing
00:16 anything too much in the main storyline.
00:18 But there are certain subplots out there that had way more power, and in this case, none
00:22 of them survived.
00:23 So, I'm Amy from WhatCulture, and here are 9 deleted movie subplots that changed everything.
00:29 9.
00:30 Nightcrawler - A Sympathetic Backstory
00:33 Nightcrawler's protagonist Lou Bloom is a bad person.
00:36 He's not likeable, he's not relatable, and as much as we may try, we don't really understand
00:41 why he does the things he does to the extent he does them.
00:44 It would have changed the film's entire tone then if we were to be given some deep Lou
00:48 lore.
00:49 For instance, if we were shown sequences from his childhood that explained why he was like
00:52 this.
00:53 Maybe that he developed an obsession with death from a young age after his whole family
00:57 was murdered in a break-in gone wrong, or something like that.
01:00 Maybe we could understand.
01:01 The initial intention was to paint Lou as a damaged person, a survivor archetype who
01:05 was just trying to get by day to day, his morals being pushed to the wayside by harsh
01:10 reality.
01:11 There'd be a whole subplot revealing Lou's traumatic past and showing how it relates
01:15 to his current self, but alas, this was not to be.
01:19 Director Dan Gilroy decided it would actually be more effective if he just went the opposite
01:23 way and made Lou unimaginably cold.
01:25 He said it would detract from the experience if he had to set aside too much time to spend
01:29 on Lou's past or give him any sympathetic scenes.
01:33 And so, all of that was cut from the script and the new Lou that we know today was born.
01:37 8.
01:38 The Uninvited 1944 - The Missing Priest
01:42 There is one line that remains in the final cut of this film today that betrays its earlier
01:46 form - a line in which a character refers to a priest that we've never seen or heard
01:51 of.
01:52 It's a bit of a blur to the blue and without much follow-up, it's a comment that's pretty
01:55 easy to ignore, but if you know, then you know.
01:58 Before the final cuts and touches, The Uninvited featured a whole subplot and additional character
02:03 by way of Father Anson.
02:05 In the book the film is based on, Uneasy Freehold by Dorothy McArdle, Father Anson is a local
02:10 priest and a very big advocate for Mary's character.
02:13 Worth noting here that Mary is of course the bad guy.
02:16 He helped paint the picture, along with the other locals, of Mary being a beautiful, virtuous
02:21 woman and her rival Carmel being ungodly.
02:24 His input rooted the film's supernatural elements in more biblical origins, with heavier mentions
02:28 of demons being the antithesis of angels rather than just run-of-the-mill monsters.
02:33 Much of his motivation in the novel was that he wanted to perform an exorcism on the haunted
02:37 house - something that could have made for some nice, scary visuals if included in the
02:41 film.
02:42 Father Anson was however completely removed before the film ever reached audiences, taking
02:46 with him his biblical brand of supernatural horror.
02:49 7.
02:50 Love Actually - A Much Sadder Story
02:53 Depending on your feelings about rom-coms, you might either absolutely adore or totally
02:57 detest Love Actually.
02:59 It's a sickly sweet Christmas classic, intertwining stories of various couples across the UK to
03:04 deliver one united message - love is all you need.
03:08 Merry Christmas.
03:09 Well, originally, actually we were going to get a whole other couple included in this
03:13 story - with this plot thread focusing on the school head teacher and her terminally
03:16 ill partner.
03:18 Not only would this have made for one overtly gay relationship in a film that's otherwise
03:21 entirely straight - and don't try telling me that Bill Nighy's character is gay representation,
03:26 it's very ambiguous at best - but at the same time, it also would have been the only one
03:30 with an undebatably sad ending.
03:32 We would have spent time with the couple in their home, the teacher caring for her partner
03:36 as they come to terms with the inevitable, and then dealing with the aftermath when it
03:40 happens.
03:41 The story would have had a totally different tone than even the saddest other ones we know
03:44 from the film today, and overall it would have shaped the movie to be slightly different,
03:48 less perfect.
03:50 Taking off some of the Christmas sparkle and the perfect happy ending could have actually
03:53 been quite an interesting, good thing.
03:56 But then again, not everyone wants sadness in their rom-coms, definitely not in the festive
04:00 season either.
04:01 6.
04:02 Hannibal - Another Serial Killer
04:04 You may have noticed when watching the sequel to the infamous Silence of the Land that at
04:09 one point, a whole other serial killer is mentioned - a killer by the name of Il Mostro.
04:14 In real life, Il Mostro refers to the Monster of Florence, who murdered 14 people over the
04:19 70s and 80s.
04:20 In fiction, Il Mostro has been firmly cemented into the story of Hannibal - first in the
04:24 1999 novel, where an investigator is left in disgrace after arresting the wrong man
04:29 accused of being Il Mostro, and in the TV adaptation, whereby Hannibal and Il Mostro
04:34 are alleged to be the same person.
04:36 Finally, when it comes to this film, they almost met face to face.
04:39 Well, that was until that whole bit was chopped out with Hannibal's own surgical precision.
04:44 After referencing Il Mostro, he actually makes an appearance as Hannibal Murders Chief Inspector
04:49 Pazzi.
04:50 Working as a janitor in Florence, he encounters the titular cannibal mid-murder but manages
04:54 to escape with his life, soon afterwards fleeing the city.
04:57 The subplot relating to Il Mostro's similarly horrible crimes, culminating in his appearance
05:01 and fleeing, certainly wasn't the top of the priority list.
05:05 It's kind of a shame really, because it was included in the book and the TV show for a
05:09 reason.
05:10 It's quite compelling.
05:11 So you really would have hoped that here it would be treated with more significance and
05:14 not just cut.
05:15 5.
05:16 Me Before You - Lou's Tragic Past
05:18 2016's Me Before You tells the unlikely love story of a small-town girl and a recently
05:24 paralyzed billionaire.
05:26 Based on the novel of the same name by Jojo Moyes, it stays fairly faithful to its source
05:30 material, but one big detail is missing.
05:33 In the novel, the explanation for why protagonist Lou is so scared to expand her horizons is
05:38 that she experienced huge trauma as a teenager.
05:41 We find out that at a party, Lou was sexually assaulted by a group of older boys, and following
05:45 this she shuts her entire life down.
05:48 Author and screenwriter Moyes explained that she chose to leave it out as there was no
05:52 way she could comfortably translate it to screen.
05:54 In the book, she explains, the rape is covered in an almost throwaway manner, as if Lou hasn't
05:59 processed it fully and instead keeps it tucked away in her mind.
06:03 She explains it would have totally changed the tone of the story and done a disservice
06:06 both to the character and the important subject matter.
06:10 So Moyes made the smart decision to just call it quits.
06:13 4.
06:14 The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Mary Jane almost appeared.
06:17 It seems unthinkable now that they would have crammed another character into this film,
06:21 especially considering how well-known it is for its overabundance of characters.
06:25 But this wasn't just any old throwaway that they were going to chuck in there, it was
06:28 the ever-iconic Mary Jane Watson.
06:31 Shailene Woodley was cast in the role of Mary Jane and had filmed all of her scenes.
06:35 The scenes weren't huge and her part wasn't going to be groundbreaking, but the goal was
06:38 to lay some of the groundwork for her presence later in the future.
06:42 With Gwen Stacy's death happening at the end of the film, I must say it would have
06:45 felt a bit pre-emptive and calculated to start shoehorning in MJ in the very same picture.
06:50 In the end, the decision to cut out MJ worked for the best.
06:53 Gwen's death wasn't sullied by a rival romance and the cast didn't burst at its
06:57 seams, close as it was.
06:59 3.
07:00 World War Z Jerry's wife goes rogue.
07:03 It's a heartwarming moment at the end of World War Z when Jerry reunites with his family,
07:07 embraced happily by his adoring wife and children.
07:10 It seems that a huge part of his motivation throughout is the thought of them being back
07:14 together again, the drive to keep his family safe and get things back to a stage where
07:18 they can live their happily ever afters.
07:20 Well, there was almost a rather sour undertone to all of this, as initially there was going
07:25 to be a subplot in which Jerry's wife begins an affair with a paratrooper.
07:28 "Oh yeah, sorry buddy, I know you're off saving the world, but I gotta get me some
07:32 while you're away."
07:33 This subplot would have led the film to dedicate more time to Jerry's family in his absence,
07:38 and also change the family's dynamic on his return, in turn influencing the whole
07:42 tone of the film's ending.
07:43 In the end, it was decided that this little storyline wasn't worth the time it would
07:47 eat up and it was just deleted.
07:48 In some ways, I think it almost could have improved the film, giving it less of a textbook
07:52 happy ending.
07:53 However, with everything being as miserable as it is these days, having a bland happy
07:58 ending isn't the worst thing in the world.
08:00 2.
08:01 Prometheus
08:02 Alien Jesus
08:03 Now, in a very sharp change of tone, I introduce you to Alien Jesus, a genuine real idea that
08:09 was almost an important subplot in a genuine real movie.
08:13 And not just any old movie, in 2012's already controversial Prometheus.
08:18 If in doubt, just add Alien Jesus, that's what I've always said.
08:21 And there's probably a reason I'm not a screenwriter, because apparently that would
08:24 never work, hence why the explicit stating of "Jesus was an alien sent to save you
08:29 and you killed him, thus bringing about your own doom" being removed from Prometheus'
08:33 plot.
08:34 Ridley Scott, in an interview with the since-closed-down Movies.com, did not shy away from stating
08:38 the film's biblical links.
08:40 There are a number of scenes that mirror biblical and mythical events, but after deliberation,
08:45 the filmmakers stopped short of actually making an official plot point of us finding out that
08:49 Jesus was an engineer.
08:50 The biblical stuff is super hinted at, but it's never actually explored as it was once
08:54 intended.
08:55 At one point Scott even deliberated having us meet God, another engineer of course, in
08:59 a potential sequel.
09:00 Thankfully, though, they're back down.
09:02 1.
09:03 Halloween - The Curse of Michael Myers - Loomis' Possession
09:06 Test audiences did the heavy lifting for us on this one, and managed to get one terrible
09:11 Halloween subplot kicked to the curb late on in production.
09:14 The test cut of the sixth Halloween film, known as the Producer's Cut, varies quite
09:18 markedly from the version we know today.
09:20 The end of the Producer's Cut sets up a subplot to carry on even into the next film,
09:25 meaning that had it not been removed, then the impact would be felt beyond this movie.
09:29 Originally, Dr. Loomis was intended to become possessed by the Mark of the Thorn, you know,
09:33 the killy, killy curse thing that makes Michael do bad things, and it was going to be passed
09:37 to him by the now dead cult leader.
09:39 The film would have ended with his desperate cry as he acknowledged his fate, but alas,
09:43 the fate was removed.
09:45 Audience members at the test screening despised the idea of Loomis becoming involved in the
09:49 cult, and they vocally opposed it.
09:51 And as a result, the whole thing was rethought.
09:53 When it came time for reshoots, Loomis actor Donald Pleasence had sadly already passed
09:58 away, so the whole concept of passing on the curse to him was scrapped, and instead Dr.
10:02 Loomis simply meets his demise in an off-screen death.
10:05 It's far less than he deserved, but you know, you gotta work with what you've got.
10:09 And on that note, we've reached the end of this list of 10 deleted movie subplots that
10:13 changed everything.
10:14 If you know any more really interesting ones, then let us know about them in the comments
10:18 down below.
10:19 And remember to check out WhatCulture.com for more lists and articles like this every
10:22 single day. As always, I've been Amy from Wok Culture and I'll catch you next time.