10 Unfilmed Movie Scenes That Explain Crucial Details

4. Stealing Lancaster's Book - The Master

The Master
The Weinstein Company

There's a scene in Paul Thomas Anderson's dense drama The Master in which Freddie is accused of trying to steal Lancaster's book, something that in the original script was imbued with a whole lot more ambiguity, and was as a result a measure more interesting.

The earlier script not only explains the existential means by which the book came around - Lancaster wrote it after having been clinically dead for 7 minutes - but features a scene in which Freddie has the spiritual merits of the book explained to him, and consequently asks how much money it might be worth.

As a result, a later scene when Lancaster's home has been ransacked - presumably in search of the manuscript - is far more interesting, as audiences are likely to think that Freddie did in fact steal it. If nothing else, it just makes the potential motives a lot more clear.

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Frequently sleep-deprived film addict and video game obsessive who spends more time than is healthy in darkened London screening rooms. Follow his twitter on @ShaunMunroFilm or e-mail him at shaneo632 [at] gmail.com.