Posted by Kirk in Director, Science Fiction | 7 comments
Darren Aronofsky Talks About ‘The Fountain’ Re-assembly
I am in love with the films of Darren Aronofsky. Â ’The Fountain’ was my favorite movie of 2006, and some interesting news came out of Mr. Aronofsky’s interview with MTV. Â Somewhere down the road, he wants to go back in and “re-assemble” the film using. Â First Showing caught up with Aronofsky and asked him to expand on this information.
“I’m not re-cutting it, I’m doing a bit of — I’d call it more of a redux — well, I don’t even know what that word means for goodness sake,” Aronofsky said.
“It’s something more for fans. I worked on the film for 6 years and it went through a lot of versions. And there was one version that was much closer to one of the scripts that we had. And we kind of chose between which way we would go with it and they both are kind of interesting. So I was always curious for myself to see what that alternative version would be. And we cut it actually recently, it’s done. I would have to get Warner Brothers to support it and get it out there.”
Unfortunately, ‘The Fountain’ wasn’t much of a box office darling for Warner Bros., so any chance of them putting money behind a rerelease of the film on DVD is pretty much nil.
Aronofsky did say that, “at some point, hopefully, there’ll be enough of a demand that they’ll let me go in and do it. But we got to get there.”
He went on to say, “It’s very similar but it’s looking at a few things in a few different ways and answers a few questions for people and raises some new questions in other ways.”
In the interview with MTV, Aronofsky said that the re-assembly would contain unused footage from the first edit of the film and would be a complicated project on a number of levels.
What do you think? Â Were you a fan of ‘The Fountain’? Â Are you interested in seeing a re-edited version of the film? Â Why do you think it did so poorely at the box office? Â Let us know by commenting below!
Sources: MTV, First Showing
I’d loveeeeeeeeeeeeeee to see a re-edited version of the Fountain! But keep Clint Mansel !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I heartily second Rebecca, especially for keeping Mansell. Also, I think people didn’t like it because in many ways it isn’t a movie that can just be seen once. I read one critique saying that it was too much about Tommy’s crusade against death and not enough time making to audience love Izzie. I didn’t have that problem – but maybe that is because I often relate very closely to characters Rachel Weisz plays. Anyway – yes on a re-release, as long as it isn’t something that tries to replace the first.
As a side note, cult movies are always the best :)
Wow… I sure am glad my brother and I went to see this while we had some lsd! Well worth the excursion.
The idea of alternate version plus the original on a double disc gives me special sensations!
Oh and I think the only reason it didn’t do well at the box office is because Daron wanted to do something artistic and unconventional (and perhaps it insulted the majority’s religious sense…).
It’s technically a well made film… but it didn’t make a ton of cash. Unfortunately that’s what you get for catering to art connoisseurs.
Sorry… DARREN ;)
It was a pity that the film had relatively small financial backing. On the other hand would more money have resulted in a less obscure plot, or more dramatic scenes still wrapped in obscurity?
When I viewed it, the numerous change of scenes were so bad I couldn't decide whether I was viewing a bad download from the internet , or dreadful editing.
Overall I think the film failed financially because the three lives depicted were more likely to confuse most viewers than enlighten them on the progressive quest for a loved one over 3 lifetimes.
Were they looking at a fairy tale part of the time read by the modern day husband? Who are those people in the dark jungle? What was the bubble guy in the yogic posture etc.?
Intellectual depiction of reincarnation and search for eternal life has little value if the message is missed by most people.
It would be great to see another version of this masterpiece!
There are multiple views to interpret the movie and none of them are wrong, so why not?