10 Hated Movie Scenes Directors REGRET Not Cutting
Despite being in control, directors sometimes regret not cutting a particular scene from a film...
Typically, when a movie comes out, the finished product leaves a lot of content on the cutting room floor. The directors are usually the ones who regret their cut content, which is why Director's Cuts are so popular. They allow the public to see the director's original vision.
Of course, there are sometimes scenes the director leaves in the movie that they probably shouldn't have. It happens from time to time, but when a bad scene makes it into a film, it can derail the whole thing. Mismanaged editing can result in incongruous narratives and messed up character development, so editing is important.
Of course, everyone has regrets, and while the director likely gave a scene the okay before it left editing, they sometimes come to regret their decision. Stanley Kubrick famously had the final scene of The Shining literally cut from the reels and mailed back to him.
Had he not done that, odds are, he would have regretted keeping the scene in the movie. More often than not though, regret comes from a scene that is near-universally hated from a finished cut. When that happens, you can bet the director wished they pulled a Kubrick at the eleventh hour.
10. Close Encounters Of The Third Kind Should Have Kept The Mothership Hidden
Steven Spielberg is the most successful director of all time, and his movies have made more than any other. His impressive rise to fame began with Jaws in '75 and shot sky-high with 1977's Close Encounters of the Third Kind. That movie cemented his place in the industry, but it wasn't perfect, as far as he was concerned.
One of the best aspects of Close Encounters is that the aliens remain obscure for most of the film. It isn't until the end that they are seen in any way, and Spielberg shot one scene shows the inside of the ship in detail. However he hates that he filmed the scene, as it destroyed the allure of the alien mystery for the audience, and cut it from the theatrical release.
As far as the technical representation of the mothership and its interior, the work was phenomenal. This was done at a time before CGI, and the special effects artistry is astounding. Unfortunately, it's also something director Stephen Spielberg absolutely hated filming, and he would have preferred it not to be in the movie.
Sadly, the scene was shoehorned in to the Special Edition Director's Cut released in 1980 by Columbia Pictures, much to the dismay of the director (ironic consider this was supposedly a "director's cut".)
In a 1997 documentary, The Making of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Spielberg said he should never have shown the inside of the ship.