8 Original Movie Endings That Never Made It To Screen

Brian De Palma has a bit of a reputation for outlandish, complex climactic sequences usually set in motion by a Rube Goldberg machine with guns. Even his lesser works have notably loud, almost out-of-place setpieces at the heart of their climax.

Snake Eyes was one of many occasions studios looked at the finished product in De Palma's cannister and put their foot down with a firm, "No." And they weren't unreasonable, but the compromised ending we wind up with knocks the wind out of an otherwise taut assassination thriller. Set in Atlantic City during the groundbreaking of a new casino that will debut with a heavyweight fight, Snake Eyes' corrupt cop Nicky Santoro (Nicolas Cage) finds himself in the middle of a plot to kill the Secretary of Defense.

Most of the film plays out like a nuetered Hollywood version of Rashomon, with each character recounting the opening 20 minutes from a different perspective, however De Palma was aiming at a different truth than Kurosawa. More specifically, he was plunging the depths of Cage's tortured soul, who with each new retelling realizes just how deep the corruption of his town runs. The only way he could possibly see clear in a world awash with sin is to cleanse it.

So De Palma did, literally. Throughout the film, a tropical storm menaces just outside the arena, threatening to become a full-blown hurricane. Originally, as Cage inadvertently leads former friend and conspirator Gary Sinise to the last witness who can expose him, the hurricane was supposed to flood the coast, drowning out the entire cast.

There's even reference to the ending in the film's weak compromise, with Cage saying he keeps dreaming about "being underwater."