Do the Russo Brothers Regret Cutting Any Scenes From Their Marvel Blockbusters?
Reddit is a great place to connect with some of the most popular people in pop culture during certain times of the year. MCU’s Russo Brothers recently did an extensive Q&A on Reddit for Marvel fans where the producers were inundated with hundreds of questions. They did their best to answer virtually every query.
While they provided a lot of insight into their creative processes and quelled some fan theories about the characters, they were also honest about what was cut out of the films.
When someone asked the brothers if the bros regretted cutting any scenes out of their movies, they had a very definitive answer. They seem to be different from other directors/producers who never seem satisfied with final cuts and ultimately lead to director’s cuts for DVD.
What did the Russo Brothers say about deleted scenes?
One Reddit user asked the Russos whether they’ve regretted cutting any scenes from their movies over the last 11 years. Anthony Russo piped in: “Honestly no, we have always released the version of the movie we wanted to, so you would never see a director’s cut of a Russo Brothers’ Marvel movie because you have already seen it.”
Yes, this is more than a little unusual, even though you could argue it isn’t since the Russos have considerable power in what they really want for these Marvel films. The only time you see the director’s cut is when a director has to work for another producer that may have a different vision for a film. We’ve seen more than our share of those examples, even if it always makes for a more satisfying artistic fight.
Is the Russos’ lack of regret in cutting scenes still a fan-subjective process?
It’s not that the cut scenes won’t be on the Blu-Ray release
With all the material they had to work with, the Russos had plenty of cut scenes from Avengers: Endgame alone. A lot of those will reportedly be on the upcoming Blu-Ray release. Each scene will supposedly make sense in why they were cut.
The Russos explained they cut one scene during the Avengers: Endgame finale they felt was redundant. It was a scene of the surviving Avengers kneeling in honor of the departed Tony Stark, leading the brothers to just keep the final funeral scene as the official tribute.
Examples like this show you the Russos do have an acute sense of form in these movies so there isn’t anything extraneous. If there’s anything we’ve learned; however, is that creative decisions evolve over time, leading us to wonder if the Russos could change their minds about those scenes in the future based on fan response.
Considering Marvel will likely continue to dominate the box office for decades to come, they could always re-release second thought director’s cuts, similar to the re-release of Avengers: Endgame with post-credit scenes this last June.
Will Marvel set a Hollywood precedent in creating more definitive cuts of films?
Sure, the power of Marvel allows these final cuts to feel complete. Nevertheless, the Russos could set a new high bar in letting all films be realized to their fullest potential so there isn’t a feeling by directors or producers of being creatively unfulfilled.
Far too many stories exist in Hollywood history of films being butchered by producers or studio heads who thought they knew better than the director. Much of those days are ancient history, yet you still see some examples of studios cutting scenes directors wanted to leave in.
Thanks to the proven success of Marvel, the Russos possibly set a precedent in how to shape a film an audience really wants to see. Other studios could learn a few things from them in using the best possible judgment so a story makes sense and not overstuffed.
As running times become ever longer as well, it’s good to know a four-hour Marvel film will likely never happen.
