It was reported last week that a scene from Bruno in which Sacha Baron Cohen interviewed an unsuspecting (isn't she always?) Latoya Jackson, was being temporarily cut just hours before the Los Angeles premiere. Oh, sorry, quick bit of background information: Michael Jackson died. R.I.P. Michael Jackson! OK, so, now it looks like the scene will officially be cut from the movie. From RiskyBusinessBlog:
The sudden death of Michael Jackson on Thursday prompted a series of discussions at Universal Pictures that resulted in the studio cutting a Jackson-related sketch from "Bruno" only hours before its Los Angeles premiere.
Uni removed a scene in which Bruno, the flamboyant Austrian journalist played by Sacha Baron Cohen, interviews an unsuspecting LaToya Jackson about a number of topics, including her brother.
Among the gags is a joke about the King of Pop's high-pitched voice, as well as an attempt to discover his contact info (Baron Cohen grabs LaToya's phone), as well as a reference to his trademark white glove, etc, all done in Baron Cohen's characteristically absurdist tone.
The scene played at press screenings earlier in the week, where it did not stand out as unusually outrageous in the context of the pic's other antics.
Maybe it didn't stand out as unusually outrageous in the context of the pic's other antics earlier in the week, but what about now, after Jackson's death on Thursday?
But after Jackson's death on Thursday, the studio and filmmakers decided to remove the scene for the premiere screening out of sensitivity to the Jackson family. The film now goes directly from Baron Cohen's gonzo interview with Paula Abdul to a focus-group for his faux reality show.
"We decided to take it out for tonight, and we'll reassess before the release whether to keep it out," said director Larry Charles at the premiere's afterparty. (Update: Uni now confirms the scene is officially out of the theatrical version, and says removing it won't be expensive because most of the prints have not yet been made or shipped).
It seems like they could have just pulled a Zoolander and digitally removed the references to Michael Jackson without deleting the scene, TWIN TOWERZ-STYLE. Remember how Zoolander is the single most respectful movie ever made? That movie took us all to Respect School and taught us an important lesson about how Revisionist History Makes Scenes in Graveyards Funnier.
But also, this scene is going to get out, right? It will leak. We will see this. I suppose the longest it will take for this scene to leak is when it "leaks" onto the deleted scenes feature of the DVD. Otherwise it could be any minute now. Wait for it...wait for it...wait for it...
