Debaser

Yeah because we all know the 'masses' are the be all and end all in terms of valid 'art'.

Enjoy Quentin Tarantino's Hero.

RichC2

I agree. I'd much rather have a shorter version with a hiphop soundtrack and kickass dub than them allow Tarantino to put his name on this and "present it", pfft, like Zhang Yimou needs any introduction in the US.

jough

Yimou is probably the most well-known director in the WORLD, and is famous pretty much everywhere but North America.

And "Hero" doesn't look like it's going to change that - it'll be only in a limited run theatrically and will show in mostly art house theaters.

Phyre

Yimou is the most well known director in the world? Snuh?

Cardiac161

Zhang Yimou may not be the most well known director in the world but he is certainly one of the most well known. His films have been critically and quite commercially well received in Asia and Europe. His name garners the same reputation as works from Scorsese, Spielberg or Coppola.

It is quite unfortunate that only in North America is he considered a nobody because most moviegoers here seem to be allergic to foreign films, subtitles and anything else that would be different in the aspect of culture, society and art.

That probably explains why the term "art house" theatres only exist in North America.

It seems moviegoers in Europe and Asia are more open to watch other countries' works. When I was in Paris last year, people were lining up around the block to catch Hero.

jough

Yes, he is well-known to and appreciated by more people on the planet than any other director. He's like the Spielberg of China, except that he's a competent director, and instead of being from a nation of 300 million, he's from a nation of two BILLION people, many of whom are familiar with his work.

Americans really have to take their heads out of the sand and look around every once in awhile. The air won't hurt you!

Grimfarrow

Well known or not, this is a fact:

HERO has already earned US$100 million worldwide - without ever having a release in North America, the UK, or a bunch of other territories. It was a big hit in Japan, and it opened at #1 in France, not counting all the Chinese-speaking countries.

That is impressive.

harosa

And the version that earned all this money? the "dreaded" Miramax funded cut of the movie.

Amel

I was reading a summer movie preview this morning where they mentioned "The Quentin Tarantino film 'Jet Li's Hero'". WUWT? Nothing about Yimou at all. And they somewhat give away the entire plot; althouth I might be reading too much into it since I've already seen it like many others around here.

I appreciate what QT's doing with these films but these damn journalists can't even report the info correctly. While QT has a very loyal fanbase, he also has a rather larger audience who will avoid anything with his name attached to it.

jough

Maybe, but it seems to me that the same people who would not like Tarantino films would also not like Hero, so it should work out.

QT's name attached to the film will almost certainly sell more tickets (in the U.S. and Canadia) than Yimou's name would alone.

cultshock

Bit of bad news: it appears that the version of Hero just screened at Cannes was NOT a 109 minute version, but the same version already released. (Miramax apparently made a typo on their schedule )

jough

How is that bad news? I guess it's bad news for the Cannes audience, but as was mentioned above, the new longer version of Hero, which will run only in the U.S. and Canadia, will premier in early August. So the showing at Cannes is of course the international version that has run everywhere else in the world.

cultshock

So, we are getting the 118 minute version? I read through this thread again twice and didn't see this. Am I missing something? I thought that Tarantino just asked Miramax not to cut the film any further than it already had. If I'm wrong about this though, hey, great!

My "bad news" just referred to the fact that people were thinking that Miramax was premiering a longer cut of the film at Cannes, due to the inaccurate listed running time.

Rypro 525

if indeed this is the dc, i am there. hell, i'd even sell my current version. (i need an official confirmation first)

jough

The version running at Cannes is the same as the one that ran in China, the UK, France, etc. It's the hacked version.

The U.S. version will be the longer director's cut.

BLANK

Source?

harosa

Why consider it hacked, anyone consider it sour grapes on the director's part because the movie was sat upon for so long? All directors have to cut movies down from their original bloated versions, ALL directors. I consider the version shown EVERYWHERE the original version,released and loved by everyone, this Director's Cut is just that, his longer version made after everyone has seen the original cut, akin to the LOTR Extended Editions.

cultshock

Don't mean to be a doubting Thomas, but where did you hear this?

RyoHazuki

cultshock

From a Tarantino interview with Fangoria:

"I had to fight for it with Miramax. I think they lost faith in it and everything. And I thought that Hero was an absolute masterpiece, so I fought with them not to cut it. Not to bring it down, but to keep it the same length as when I saw it. And finally they agreed if I would present it. So I got in touch with Zhang Yimou and he was cool with that. Yeah, he was as happy as a clam. So that's what I am doing—it's pretty much what I did for Iron Monkey."

I guess it comes down to this: which version did QT see? The full 118 min version, or the already mandated 90 min. version? I was assuming that he saw the 90 minute version (since Zhang had already cut the film to that length and grudgingly accepted it as the "official" cut) and just persuaded Miramax not to cut it any more, in exchange for having his name attached. Is this right or wrong?

wendersfan

Right. Because no director in the world has such a thing as final cut.

harosa

Some (not many) do but I believe he's been in the game enough to know who was providing the money(therefore the demands that come with it), would there be such a demand for another cut if the movie had been released more than a year ago, been universally praised and made CTHD money?

darqleo

Has the 118 minute version ever been shown? And if so, has anyone seen it? I'm wondering because sometimes director's cuts aren't always better (for example, Amadeus, Last Of The Mohicans, some of Ridley Scott's movies)

jough

The Amadeus director's cut was better than the theatrical version.

But in general, I'd trust a director and his editor's version of a film more than the "Executive Producer's Cut." When someone who works for the studio, who had no collaborative input with the director on the director's intentions, plans, etc., and just cuts the film to how his bosses want it - well, how good can the results be?

Evidently, in this case, not even a studio monkey with a pair of scissors could make the film bad. The Studio Cut was the one that showed in China and throughout the world and made tonnes of money and garnered much critical acclaim.

Njål

The 118 minutes version was shown at film festivals in Mainland China, and I think also some other Asian film festivals (perhaps festivals elsewhere as well). It's also available on a Chinese-only disc system w/o (English) subtitles.
Yimou Zhang stated his dipleasure with cutting the film long before it became clear that Disney/Miramax would sit on it in the US. The problem is that they also have blocked releasing the longer version in other regions where they don't have the rights.
The 'Tarantino Presents'-release will almost certainly be the standard release, and not the 118 minutes edit. It's very unlikely that he will have been shown the longer version.