10 Times Actors Were Edited Out Of Movies
8. Various Actors - Mr. & Mrs. Smith
The production of Mr. & Mrs. Smith was a bit of a mess, with director Doug Liman never fully sure how he wanted to conclude the film. One of his plans was to have the titular couple defeat a pair of sinister villains, before deciding against this and cutting the subplot out entirely.
And this meant that a lot of great actors were edited out of the film. Those two villains were initially played by Terence Stamp and Jacqueline Bisset, but when Liman decided that this version didn't work, he changed things up, reshooting their scenes with Keith David and Angela Bassett instead.
He then decided that this didn't work either, scrapping the ending and opting to remove these characters from the film altogether. When asked about this decision, Liman told EW that it was all about giving the story an appropriate conclusion:
"It was important to not give it that resolution. Because if you think about a relationship, there is no point at which you suddenly defeat the forces of antagonism. It’s not like, 'Oh, we got married, we’re finished having to fight for the relationship.' Or, 'We celebrated our fifth anniversary, now it’s easy.' It’s never easy."
Bassett and David weren't actually cast until the film had already wrapped principal photography, as if to demonstrate just how uncertain Liman was about this entire subplot.