No matter how skilled a writer, director, or editor might be, there are always going to be scenes or sequences that end up cut from a finished film. Whether it’s original endings that didn’t work with audiences, or scenes that just couldn’t fit the running time, these scenes and alternate takes are ones fans need to know about.
Here are Screen Rant’s 10 Amazing Movie Scenes You’ve Never Seen.
Interstellar
No matter how confusing the ending of Christopher Nolan’s space epic Interstellar was, it wrapped up almost all of the suspense: the hero Coop sends the science needed to save humanity back in time, before he travels back to Earth to meet his elderly daughter, and heads out to find another astronaut stranded on humanity’s new home. Some viewers had a problem with such a neat and tidy ending, but the original script had the wormhole to earth collapse when Coop sent the data back. It apparently would have ended with him floating inside a black hole, never knowing if humans died out… before eventually running out of air.
The Shining
One of the most iconic horror movies of all time, The Shining wasn’t always as flawless as it’s remembered to be. The movie originally ended with the father, Jack, frozen in the hedge maze, as his wife and son are treated at a nearby hospital. The hotel manager shows up claiming that there was no evidence of any of the movie’s action. Just when audiences start to wonder if it was all in the characters’ heads, it’s revealed that the manager knew the truth all along, and even hired Jack to keep the murders coming. After testing the film in theatres, director Stanley Kubrick cut the scene from every print.
Vacation
The movie that introduced the Griswold family to the world was an instant hit, spawning multiple sequels of disastrous family vacations. The family’s cross-country road trip to Walley World - a parody of Walt Disney’s famous theme park - ends with them finding the park closed, until they force their way in with a guard held at gunpoint. But the original ending was even weirder, sending Clark and his family to the home of the park’s founder, forcing him to entertain them at gunpoint. The ending tested so badly with audiences, it was completely re-shot, but was softened up a bit and used for Christmas Vacation years later.
Mad Max: Fury Road
Tom Hardy takes up Mel Gibson’s role as the drifter Max Rockatansky in Fury Road, helping a group of women escape from a madman’s fortress and, eventually, reclaim it. According to director George Miller, the movie originally was planned to have Max return to the Citadel, and reveal that he had fallen in love with Furiosa, leaving the pair to build a new and better city. It was Tom Hardy who challenged the director, claiming that Max would be nowhere near ready for a new family or responsibility. Miller realized his star was right, and the new ending was shot instead, with Max disappearing back into the Wasteland with a single nod.
Terminator 3: Rise of The Machines
The third Terminator movie isn’t remembered too fondly, but one deleted scene is must-see viewing for any fan of the series. When cutting edge combat robots are being sold to the U.S. military, the real soldier the Terminators are based on is finally revealed: Chief Master Sargent Candy. Seeing Arnold Schwarzenegger playing the man behind the machine may not fit with the overall tone of the apocalyptic series, but there’s no denying that it features some of the best jokes in the franchise (including the origin of the Terminator’s heavily-accented voice).
Edge of Tomorrow
Tom Cruise and writer Christopher McQuarrie’s time travel/alien invasion story tackled some seriously complicated time loop tactics, forcing its hero to relive the same defeat over and over again. Until the ending, that is, when he saves the day. As a result, he’s sent back to the helicopter ride that set the movie in motion, wins the war, and meets the woman of his dreams (for the first and hopefully last time). But Edge of Tomorrow’s original ending was planned to be nowhere near as happy.
The hero still kills the villain, but the movie would have ended when he wakes up a day earlier - leaving the audience to wonder if the entire story even happened, or will happen all over again. It was only when Cruise explained that the movie’s comedy would turn out stronger than expected that the director agreed to give a happy ending (to better fit the tone of the film).
X-Men: First Class
The power of mind control can be a dangerous thing in the wrong mutant’s hands, so it’s a good thing the X-Men’s Professor X always acts responsibly. Well, almost always. When Charles and Erik are out recruiting mutants in First Class, Charles finds a unique way of showing his power. Instead of just reading one mutant’s mind, he alters her perception, making his metal-bending partner appear in women’s clothing without him ever being the wiser. It’s such a good gag, it really is hard to believe it didn’t make the finished cut.
Star Wars
Remember when Obi-Wan warns Darth Vader that killing him would make things even harder on the former Jedi (“if you strike me down, I will become more powerful than you could ever imagine”)? The original trilogy doesn’t actually deliver on that warning the way you would think - but that wasn’t always the case. George Lucas long considered having Obi-Wan reappear in Luke’s battle with the Emperor, even using powers from beyond the grave to keep the Sith Lord’s powers from him.
The twist would have ended with both Obi-Wan and Yoda being brought back to life… and old Ben revealing Luke’s Uncle Owen was actually Owen Kenobi, his brother. The prequels changed all that, but we can still dream of what might have been.
Kill Bill Vol. 2
It’s hard to believe that there were scenes Quentin Tarantino was forced to leave out of his Kill Bill epic, but one of the biggest nods to the movie’s Hong Kong action roots wound up on the cutting room floor. The scene from Vol. 2 saw The Bride and Bill run into an Australian martial artist out for revenge, with Bill showing just how deadly he is, even at an old age. It’s easy to see why it was cut for the flow of the second film, but Michael Jai White’s skills would have been more than welcome for fans of flying fists (and bloody deaths).
The Wolverine
Logan took some time off from his brightly-coloured X-Men allies for a solo story more in line with westerns than a typical comic book movie. But The Wolverine still planned to include one of the greatest nods to the character’s comic book roots - and a costume that fans have been begging for ever since he first appeared on screen.
The final scene would have shown Logan receiving a gift, opening the chest to find his classic comic costume, complete with the brown and yellow mask. Out of all the deleted scenes in comic book movies, this is the one that definitely should have made the final cut.
Conclusion
Those are the movie scenes too crazy, too awesome, or too good to be true that we think movie fans need to know about, but which ones did we miss? Name them in the comments and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more videos like this one.
