8 Movie Trailer Scenes Removed For The Right Reasons
2. Bruce's Speech (Batman Begins)
The teaser trailer for Batman Begins came out around 15 years ago, and as such, isn't exactly something that people have combed through looking for axed footage. But it does have some - or, rather, it has some axed dialogue.
The centerpiece of the trailer is a brooding, reflective speech spoken by Bruce Wayne, which failed to reach the final cut - even partially. That's a good 30 seconds of dialogue that was chucked on the cutting room floor, an odd decision for a director like Christopher Nolan, who is famous for shooting practically no waste material.
But as it turns out, there's a reason why Bruce's speech didn't end up in the movie: it was written exclusively for the trailer.
Commenting on a Reddit post in 2015, Jonathan Nolan - Chris' younger brother and frequent collaborator - discussed how the speech came about, revealing that it was cooked up in a few short hours during the middle of shooting:
"I wrote this in a couple hours in my brother's trailer while he was shooting the scene in which Bruce is arrested for stealing Wayne Corp supplies on his 'journey.' Remains some of my favorite writing from these films. Was written specifically for the trailer. Wouldn't have worked in the film."
The teaser trailer was intended, partly, to show fans that Batman Begins would be nothing like the campy Joel Schumacher movies from the '90s, which is why such a gritty tone was established with this dialogue.