Cloud Atlas, the Wachowski siblings highly anticipated followup to the Matrix saga, didn’t wow American audiences the way its producers hoped it would, but they’re still holding out hope it can make it big internationally.
But the version debuting in China later on Tuesday is significantly shorter than the one U.S. moviegoers saw, with more than a half hour cut from the 172-minute film without the producers’ knowledge.
“We were unaware that our Chinese partners, Dreams of Dragon Pictures, had cut nearly 40 minutes from the film,” producers Grant Hill and Philip Lee told TheWrap. “We did know that, as with other countries, there were likely to be censorship trims and we trusted them to protect the integrity of the filmmaker’s creativity and vision.”
Atlas—which stars Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Sturgess, Ben Whishaw, Hugo Weaving and Xun Zhou and numerous other marquee names in multiple roles—links various storylines from across time and space to explore the interconnectivity of life.
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Lee and Hill haven’t seen the trimmed version, but according to E!, the excised scenes “included sex scenes featuring both gay and straight characters, as well as violent set pieces.” It’s not clear if other elements of the relationship between Robert Frobisher (Ben Whishaw) and Rufus Sixsmith (James D’arcy) were altered.
At the recent premiere in Beijing, Lana Wachowski told reporters, “It sucks really, but I believe you can watch the full version online,” a jab at China’s colossal piracy problem.
boring
Didn’t cut out the creepo Yellowface though, huh?
Dawster
I didn’t watch it because I heard it was offensive to half-black people which… I guess isn’t an issue with this film…
Dionte
I want to see this movie again, the full version.
Little-Kiwi
saw it five times. easily the most ambitious film of 2012. which means, of course, that 60% of audiences hate it.