In reference to some things I have read in here -
I can't remember the actor at the moment....but I remember an actor saying that as they were watching the final cut of a movie they were in that was directed by Ron Howard, they noticed that a scene they had shot was cut from the movie. They said that at first they were kind of mad about it....then they noticed that a scene with Ron's dad was cut....and he thought - if the director thought a scene with his own father needed cutting (the only scene his dad had), how can I complain that "one" of my scenes in a 2 hour movie was cut?
If someone takes the time to read through the "making of" stuff from many movies....there are thousands of stories about actors shooting things for movies and them eventually being cut. It happens. No conspiracies....it's just a fact of life for people in the movie business. Kevin Costner's "breakout" scenes that were to make him a star in THE BIG CHILL....were cut. All you see left are his hands and part of his body in a coffin.
Another thing I have garnered from reading the last few pages in here....rules change. If we see that something that was once allowed is being abused...we change the rules to stop it. Life's that simple.