Streisand Reworking Funny Girl Ending — Page 2

JSquared2 said: "joevitus said: "Jay Lerner-Z said: "How does it being The Way We Were make it any better? She did not write or direct that either. Sydney Pollack and Arthur Laurents did. Who does she think she is? Talk about ego."

Arthur Laurents hated the cuts--considered they ruined the movie. So now you have the Pollack cut and the Laurents cut. Win, win."



Arthur Laurents hated everything (and everyone).

"

Hyperbole--but then Laurents is the kind of person to inspire hyperbolic reactions. OP was complaining about "disrespect" to Laurents and Pollack. I'm pointing out that this new Blu-ray will be the opposite of that.

Sydney Pollack was the director. Not Arthur Laurents, not Barbra Streisand. I believe Laurents hated a lot of things about the movie, including Barbra's performance. Just start again from scratch.

I personally believe that the auteur is the artist. Set designers, cinematographers, actors etc. are just tools. The director chooses his tools, and uses them to create his or her vision.

Not me. Like an interior decorator would choose carpeting, or wallpaper... they may be lovely on their own, but together they may not work. The responsiblity for this lies with the decorator, nobody else. If you don't like your apartment, it's not disrespectful of the carpetmaker to say so.

THE WAY WE WERE happened because Streisand asked Arthur Laurents to write a script for her. He loved the idea and used a lot of his personal life in the story. Streisand loved the character of Katie and quickly wanted Redford for the role of Hubbell. Laurents introduced the idea of having (future) Oscar winning directory Sydney Pollack to direct and brought him onto the project. Streisand was adamant on Redford for Hubbell, though as written (very basic pretty boy with zero depth), he repeatedly declined. After much haggling from Pollack, he eventually came around and gave his stipulations on the conditions on which he'd agree to play the role - expand his role and character. Streisand demanded that whatever Redford wants, accommodate him completely, including his money demands. Laurents wasn't interested in modifying his script so writer David Rayfiel took over in expanding the role of Hubbell. After the film was completed, as is usually the case, the studio wasn't too pleased with a few heavy political sequences. Test audiences were zoning off during these sequences therefore these were trimmed from the final cut of the film - Pollack didn't cut these by his own choice. Streisand was obviously upset, but she nor Pollack had creative control over the final cut of the film. Streisand is now inserting back those cut sequences that gives the ending of the film some more context - she isn't altering it. These cut sequences give the awkward reunion at The Plaza at the film's finale some context. This new home video release contains BOTH the theatrical version and this newly expanded version of the film which isn't replacing the original film. It's simply letting people see the film as they have loved for decades AND also a chance to see the version that was originally intended.

Hm, well if this is the original director's cut all along then it was wrong of me to judge poor Barbra. My ire was misdirected, I should have been aiming it at the studio.

I still feel the director is boss. The making of this movie sounds like a nightmare. Too many egos vying for control. Woody Allen's system of complete control at every creative level is the only one I could tolerate. Sadly, it is too rare.

Anshel2 said: "People have such a huge chip on their shoulders where Streisand is concerned. Based on these arguments, there shouldn't be any recut films issued where the director has passed away. Streisand and Pollack were close friends. Columbia owns the picture. She wouldn't be involved at all if the OWNER of the picture didn't want her to be and there wouldn't be a longer version of the film being released if the OWNER didn't want to release one. There are two scenes being spliced in totaling about five minutes. And the original version is being released on the same disc. Everyone relax."

...and, for what it's worth, in the Vanity Fair excerpt, she does say she checked with Pollack, who had reservations about the cuts and gave his OK for an alternate take.