10 Genius Edits That Totally Saved Movies
4. All The Musical Scenes Were Deleted - I'll Do Anything
Movie-saving edits don't get much more brutal than with James L. Brooks' 1994 satirical dramedy I'll Do Anything, which was actually conceived and shot as an old-fashioned musical parody, with songs from Carole King, Prince, and Sinéad O'Connor.
However, test screenings expressed a universal dislike for the musical sequences, prompting Brooks and Oscar-nominated editing veteran Richard Marks (The Godfather: Part II, Terms of Endearment) to remove them in their entirety.
To paper over the narrative cracks, Brooks quickly wrote new scenes which were then shot over a mere three days, after which he spent a torturous seven weeks reconstituting the film.
Brooks later said of the process, "Something like this not only tries one's soul - it threatens one's soul." And though the film was a major box office flop regardless, the re-edit received decent reviews from critics, far from the damning test screening response.
Brooks has flirted with releasing a director's cut containing the songs in recent years, though composer Hans Zimmer deems it unlikely due to the thorny rights issues involved with all the music.