10 Movies That Actually Benefitted From Studio Interference

American History X tells the harrowing story of racial violence, neo-Nazism and ultimately attempted redemption.

After Edward Norton’s violently racist Derek brutally kills a young black man in the street, his younger brother Danny - played by Edward Furlong - looks to be following in his sibling’s prejudiced footsteps. That is until Derek befriends an African American man named Lamont and eventually manages to overcome his racist outlook.

Hoping to save his younger brother from the same fate Derek implores Danny not to become involved with his old gang the D.O.C. The future for the main characters looks somewhat hopeful until young Danny is gunned down at school by fellow African American schoolmates. In the original ending, this drives Derek back to his violent neo-Nazi ways and even implies he will always be this way, under the surface. Very grim.

In a mutinous collaboration between star and studio against director Tony Kaye, Edward Norton himself was sent into the editing room to tidy up the film. This re-edited ending still had Danny die at the hands of his school friends but now we see Derek cradling his brother’s body, inconsolable at the idea that it was Derek’s own previous views that led to Danny’s fate.

What we got was a deeply tragic but ultimately satisfying movie experience that didn’t overdo the sadness of the situation in the name of giving us a downer ending for the sake of it. Norton’s ending, vis-a-vis the studio’s interference, arguably saved this classic flick.