These background stories could've completely ruined our favourite films...
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00:00 I imagine that when writing a screenplay it's difficult to strike the right balance between
00:04 focusing on a storyline and keeping things tight, and giving too little outside information,
00:09 leaving the world feeling a bit barren. This is usually where subplots come in handy,
00:14 offering a bit of support without changing anything too much in the main storyline.
00:18 But there are certain subplots out there that had way more power, and in this case,
00:22 none of them survived. So I'm Amy from WhatCulture,
00:25 and here are 9 deleted movie subplots that changed everything.
00:29 9. Nightcrawler - A Sympathetic Backstory
00:33 Nightcrawler's protagonist Lou Bloom is a bad person. He's not likable, he's not relatable,
00:38 and as much as we may try, we don't really understand why he does the things he does
00:42 to the extent he does them. It would have changed the film's entire tone then if we
00:46 were to be given some deep Lou lore. For instance, if we were shown sequences from his childhood that
00:51 explained why he was like this. Maybe that he developed an obsession with death from a young
00:56 age after his whole family was murdered in a break-in gone wrong, or something like that.
01:00 Maybe we could understand. The initial intention was to paint Lou as a damaged person, a survivor
01:05 archetype who was just trying to get by day to day, his morals being pushed to the wayside by
01:10 harsh reality. There'd be a whole subplot revealing Lou's traumatic past and showing how it relates to
01:15 his current self, but alas, this was not to be. Director Dan Gilroy decided it would actually
01:21 be more effective if he just went the opposite way and made Lou unimaginably cold. He said it
01:26 would detract from the experience if he had to set aside too much time to spend on Lou's past
01:31 or give him any sympathetic scenes. And so, all of that was cut from the script and the new Lou
01:36 that we know today was born. 8. The Uninvited 1944 - The Missing Priest
01:42 There is one line that remains in the final cut of this film today that betrays its earlier form.
01:47 A line in which a character refers to a priest that we've never seen or heard of.
01:52 Out of the blue and without much follow-up, it's a comment that's pretty easy to ignore,
01:56 but if you know, then you know. Before the final cuts and touches,
02:00 The Uninvited featured a whole subplot and additional character by way of Father Anson.
02:05 In the book the film is based on, Uneasy Freehold by Dorothy McArdle,
02:09 Father Anson is a local priest and a very big advocate for Mary's character.
02:13 Worth noting here that Mary is of course the bad guy. He helped paint the picture,
02:17 along with the other locals, of Mary being a beautiful, virtuous woman and her rival,
02:22 Carmel, being ungodly. His input rooted the film's supernatural elements in more biblical origins,
02:28 with heavier mentions of demons being the antithesis of angels rather than just
02:32 run-of-the-mill monsters. Much of his motivation in the novel was that he wanted to perform an
02:36 exorcism on the haunted house, something that could have made for some nice scary visuals
02:40 if included in the film. Father Anson was however completely removed before the film
02:45 ever reached audiences, taking with him his biblical brand of supernatural horror.
02:49 7. Love Actually - A Much Sadder Story
02:53 Depending on your feelings about rom-coms, you might either absolutely adore or totally
02:57 detest Love Actually. It's a sickly sweet Christmas classic, intertwining stories of
03:02 various couples across the UK to deliver one united message. Love is all you need. Merry Christmas.
03:09 Well, originally, actually we were going to get a whole other couple included in this story,
03:13 with this plot thread focusing on the school head teacher and her terminally ill partner.
03:18 Not only would this have made for one overtly gay relationship in a film that's otherwise entirely
03:22 straight - and don't try telling me that Bill Nighy's character is gay representation,
03:26 it's very ambiguous at best - but at the same time, it also would have been the only one with
03:30 an undebatably sad ending. We would have spent time with the couple in their home, the teacher
03:35 caring for her partner as they come to terms with the inevitable, and then dealing with the
03:39 aftermath when it happens. The story would have had a totally different tone than even the saddest
03:44 other ones we know from the film today, and overall it would have shaped the movie to be
03:47 slightly different, less perfect. Taking off some of the Christmas sparkle and the perfect happy
03:53 ending could have actually been quite an interesting, good thing. But then again,
03:56 not everyone wants sadness in their rom-coms, definitely not in the festive season either.
04:01 6. Hannibal - Another Serial Killer You may have noticed when watching the sequel
04:06 to The Infamous Silence of the Lambs that at one point, a whole other serial killer is mentioned,
04:12 a killer by the name of Il Mostro. In real life, Il Mostro refers to the monster of Florence,
04:17 who murdered 14 people over the 70s and 80s. In fiction, Il Mostro has been firmly cemented
04:23 into the story of Hannibal, first in the 1999 novel where an investigator is left in disgrace
04:28 after arresting the wrong man accused of being Il Mostro, and in the TV adaptation whereby Hannibal
04:33 and Il Mostro are alleged to be the same person. Finally, when it comes to this film, they almost
04:38 met face to face. Well, that was until that whole bit was chopped out with Hannibal's own surgical
04:44 precision. After referencing Il Mostro, he actually makes an appearance as Hannibal Murders Chief
04:48 Inspector Pazzi. Working as a janitor in Florence, he encounters the titular cannibal mid-murder,
04:53 but manages to escape with his life, soon afterwards fleeing the city. The subplot relating
04:58 to Il Mostro's similarly horrible crimes, culminating in his appearance and fleeing,
05:02 certainly wasn't the top of the priority list. It's kind of a shame really, because it was included
05:07 in the book and the TV show for a reason. It's quite compelling. So you really would have hoped
05:12 that here it would be treated with more significance and not just cut. 5. Me Before You - Lou's Tragic
05:18 Past 2016's Me Before You tells the unlikely love story of a small-town girl and a recently
05:24 paralyzed billionaire. Based on the novel of the same name by Jojo Moyes, it stays fairly faithful
05:29 to its source material, but one big detail is missing. In the novel, the explanation for why
05:35 protagonist Lou is so scared to expand her horizons is that she experienced huge trauma as a teenager.
05:41 We find out that at a party, Lou was sexually assaulted by a group of older boys, and following
05:46 this, she shuts her entire life down. Author and screenwriter Moyes explained that she chose to
05:51 leave it out as there was no way she could comfortably translate it to screen. In the book,
05:55 she explained, the rape is covered in an almost throwaway manner, as if Lou hasn't processed it
06:00 fully and instead keeps it tucked away in her mind. She explains it would have totally changed
06:04 the tone of the story and done a disservice both to the character and the important subject matter.
06:10 So Moyes made the smart decision to just call it quits. 4. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - Mary Jane
06:16 Almost Appeared It seems unthinkable now that they would have crammed another character into
06:21 this film, especially considering how well known it is for its overabundance of characters. But
06:25 this wasn't just any old throwaway that they were going to chuck in there, it was the ever iconic
06:30 Mary Jane Watson. Shailene Woodley was cast in the role of Mary Jane and had filmed all of her scenes.
06:35 The scenes weren't huge and her part wasn't going to be groundbreaking, but the goal was to lay some
06:39 of the groundwork for her presence later in the future. With Gwen Stacy's death happening at the
06:44 end of the film, I must say it would have felt a bit preemptive and calculated to start shoehorning
06:48 in MJ in the very same picture. In the end, the decision to cut out MJ worked for the best. Gwen's
06:54 death wasn't sullied by a rival romance and the cast didn't burst at its seams, close as it was.
06:59 3. World War Z - Jerry's Wife Goes Rogue It's a heartwarming moment at the end of
07:05 World War Z when Jerry reunites with his family, embraced happily by his adoring wife and children.
07:10 It seems that a huge part of his motivation throughout is the thought of them being back
07:14 together again, the drive to keep his family safe and get things back to a stage where they can live
07:19 their happily ever afters. Well, there was almost a rather sour undertone to all of this, as initially
07:25 there was going to be a subplot in which Jerry's wife begins an affair with a paratrooper. Oh yeah,
07:29 sorry buddy, I know you're off saving the world, but I gotta get me some while you're away.
07:33 This subplot would have led the film to dedicate more time to Jerry's family in his absence,
07:38 and also change the family's dynamic on his return, in turn influencing the whole tone of
07:42 the film's ending. In the end it was decided that this little storyline wasn't worth the time it
07:47 would eat up, and it was just deleted. In some ways I think it almost could have improved the
07:51 film, you know, giving it less of a textbook happy ending. However, with everything being
07:55 as miserable as it is these days, having a bland happy ending isn't the worst thing in the world.
08:00 2. Prometheus - Alien Jesus Now, in a very sharp change of tone,
08:05 I introduce you to Alien Jesus, a genuine real idea that was almost an important subplot in a
08:12 genuine real movie. And not just any old movie, in 2012's already controversial Prometheus.
08:18 If in doubt, just add Alien Jesus, that's what I've always said. And there's probably a reason
08:22 I'm not a screenwriter, because apparently that would never work, hence why the explicit stating
08:27 of "Jesus was an alien sent to save you and you killed him, thus bringing about your own doom"
08:32 being removed from Prometheus's plot. Ridley Scott, in an interview with the since-closed-down
08:36 movies.com, did not shy away from stating the film's biblical links. There are a number of
08:41 scenes that mirror biblical and mythical events, but after deliberation, the filmmakers stopped
08:46 short of actually making an official plot point of us finding out that Jesus was an engineer.
08:50 The biblical stuff is super hinted at, but it's never actually explored as it was once intended.
08:55 At one point Scott even deliberated having us meet God, another engineer of course,
08:59 in a potential sequel. Thankfully though, they backed down.
09:02 1. Halloween - The Curse of Michael Myers - Loomis' Possession
09:06 Test audiences did the heavy lifting for us on this one, and managed to get one
09:10 terrible Halloween subplot kicked to the curb late on in production. The test cut of the sixth
09:15 Halloween film, known as the "Producer's Cut", varies quite markedly from the version we know
09:20 today. The end of the Producer's Cut sets up a subplot to carry on even into the next film,
09:24 meaning that had it not been removed, then the impact would be felt beyond this movie.
09:29 Originally, Dr Loomis was intended to become possessed by the Mark of the Thorn,
09:33 you know, the killy, killy curse thing that makes Michael do bad things,
09:36 and it was going to be passed to him by the now-dead cult leader. The film would have ended
09:40 with his desperate cry as he acknowledged his fate, but alas, the fate was removed.
09:44 Audience members at the test screening despised the idea of Loomis becoming involved in the cult,
09:49 and they vocally opposed it. And as a result, the whole thing was rethought.
09:53 When it came time for reshoots, Loomis actor Donald Pleasence had sadly already passed away,
09:58 so the whole concept of passing on the curse to him was scrapped, and instead Dr Loomis simply
10:03 meets his demise in an off-screen death. It's far less than he deserved, but you know,
10:07 you gotta work with what you've got. And on that note, we've reached the end of this list of 10
10:12 deleted movie subplots that changed everything. If you know any more really interesting ones,
10:16 then let us know about them in the comments down below. And remember to check out WhatCulture.com
10:20 for more lists and articles like this every single day. As always,
10:24 I've been Amy from WhatCulture, and I'll catch you next time.