Fix It In Post

“We’ll fix it in post” has become something of a trope — an on-set declaration of “forget it, we’ll fix it in post” means there’s been an oops moment that will then be covered up in post-production with editing, sound-looping, etc. happens. What it really means is more work in post and a finished film which the audience generally has no clue what could have been.

Fixing something in post also occurs after a film has been screened with test audiences who determine a whole part, or even the theme, of the movie isn’t favorable. A whole new spin on the movie can emerge from the editing room.

MAJOR POST-PRODUCTION CHANGES

I’ll Do Anything

With two hit films behind him, writer/director James L. Brooks had some creative freedom for his next project and decided to make a musical. Except that’s not exactly how it turned out. I’ll Do Anything, released in 1994, was a Hollywood story about an unsuccessful actor trying to find his way in the movie biz while trying to take care of his demanding young daughter. Although he hired actors, not singers, he gathered big name musical talent to head up choreography (Twyla Tharp), song-writing (Prince), and even a few songs (Sinead O’Conner). It wasn’t enough, according to the cringing test audiences, which send the film packing back to the editing room. Post-production turned it from musical into a more typical comedy drama. (It didn’t exactly make it a success at the box office in the end.)

Fatal Attraction

Slick thriller Fatal Attraction, released in 1987, directed by Adrian Lyne, was one of the most controversial films of its decade. The tense, racy story centers around Michael Douglas’s lawyer character who becomes caught in an tangled in an extramarital dance with Glenn Close’s disturbed temptress. Close’s Alex is often touted as one of the great villains in modern cinema, but many spectators argue that the unhinged character isn’t strictly a villain. At least not the only one; it takes two.

Social commentators would have had even more to say on the destructive (and self-destructive) character, if the film had made it to screen as its originally intended version. In the beginning, it was darker, with more twists, and ended on a violent, noir note in which Alex committed suicide and pinned it on Douglas’s Dan. But this unsympathetic ending didn’t pan out during audience test screenings. It was re-shot, the dark end replaced by one in which Dan’s wife shoots Alex. Audiences wanted the story to be wrapped up; they wanted to believe there was a happier ending for the family.

However realistic the original ending may have been, Fatal Attraction proved to be a thrilling success after the overhaul in post-production.

Greystroke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes

When Andy MacDowell took the role of the literature’s Jane Porter for Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, an reimagining of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ stories in 1984, she didn’t know the extreme role post-production would play in her portrayal. Physically, the actors cast were perfect: the in-shape, engaging Christopher Lambert starred as Tarzan with the beautiful Southern Andie MacDowell at his side.

However, when director Hugh Hudson watched the film in the editing room, there was a snag. MacDowell’s accent — a product of her South Carolina upbringing — seemed too prevalent to accurately portray the refined Jane Porter. So he brought in Glenn Close to dub over all of MacDowell’s dialogue in the film. Hudson’s choice was not easy on MacDowell, who had post-post-production troubles in the media and industry because of it.

MacDowell went on to surpass her post-production woes and gain a successful career, however, and Greystoke was nominated for three Oscars.

The Thin Red Line

Another example of changes in post-production is how big or small a role an actor ends up playing — or rather, how much the audience sees of all the work they did on set. A director known for his process of “finding the film” in the editing room is Terrence Malick, who adapted James Jones’ WW2 novel in 1998 with The Thin Red Line.

Adrien Brody’s character, initially perceived to be a lead, was cut down to a minor, supporting role with very little dialogue. The editing process also reinvented George Clooney’s role as a small character part, and Mickey Rourke never made it to screen at all. Casualties of war.

Top Gun

Iconic 1986 film Top Gun had no problem making aircrafts and aviators popular, but initial screenings had audiences wanting more romance. Additional scenes between Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis were added in post-production long after the original shooting (obvious if you pay attention to their hair) to give everyone what they wanted — and to great success.

Cuts and re-cuts are common — in the case of Alexander, Oliver Stone’s 2004 epic starring Colin Farrell, there were three versions. The originally released version, the Director’s Cut, and the Final Cut, which was actually the most cohesive — and longest — cut of the film.