Straight Outta Compton Cut A Ton Of Footage, Expect A Much Longer Director's Cut
By
Brent McKnight
3 days ago
3 Comments
In case you missed it,
Universals epic run at the
box office continued this weekend as N.W. A. biopic
Straight Outta Compton took on all comers and emerged victorious. One issue many, including
our own critic, had with the film is that there is so much material that some elements were barely touched on, skimmed over, or left out completely. But when a directors cut drops, you can expect to see
a lot more.
The cast and crew sat down for an extensive conversation with
Rolling Stone, and director F. Gary Gray revealed that the initial cut of the movie was more than an hour longer than the already two-hour-and-twenty-seven-minute version that hit theaters. Talking about how they arrived at the theatrical cut, Gray said:
The director's cut is going to be great. Ultimately, the core of the story is about N.W.A and about the rise and subsequent fall of the group. There are so many points of view that to include them all, it would be a five-hour movie. But certainly, there are some things that are not in the movie that could easily be in the movie if we had the time
We focused on what we thought was important.
This is perhaps the biggest issue facing biopics across the board. Even if your subject lived a boring existenceand then why are you making a movie about this person?fitting the details of an entire life into a single movie is hard. Some things are going to be left out. And when youre dealing with a group comprised of
five people, those problems are compounded even further.
That appears to be the biggest issue that many have with
Straight Outta Compton, that after a strong start it falls into typical biopic skimming over the surface of events. Gray did say that he expects his version, his directors cut, to get a home video release eventually, and even hinted at what we could see.
Gray added that one thing the longer gut will address is the groups notoriously shoddy treatment of womenan issue that is present both lyrically and in real life. N.W.A. did write a song called "A ***** Iz A ***** after all, which stirred up quite a bit of controversy, and
this article details some of members issues with violence against women over the years.
Despite omissions,
Straight Outta Compton has received largely positive reviews from
critics, who have praised everything from the music and performances to the realistic portrayals of the racial tension and struggles faced by African American performers trying to succeed without compromising themselves. The film obviously connected with
audiences. Its $56 million opening weekend take was bigger than the $55 million Tom Cruise had with
Mission: ImpossibleRogue Nation, and damn close to the $57 million Marvel managed with
Ant-Man.
Straight Outta Compton also had the biggest opening of any music biopic ever, by a long waysthe previous high water mark in that realm was
Walk the Line, which opened with $22 million.
Straight Outta Compton is in theaters now.
