WATCH THIS NOW: ORIGINAL ENDING TO ELECTION

Who duh FUUUCK do you think you are to show me this!?  (milkshake throw!)

Ugh, that ending just feels SO WRONG.  Election is one of my most favorite films and its ending was perfect.  I knew about this ending (having read the book after seeing the film), but I never knew they filmed it.  Or maybe I did, if Payne mentions it in the commentary...  Either way, I'd always respected that Payne and Taylor went with an ending that more suited their approach to the story.

Interestingly, I just listened to a podcast where Paul Feig talks about how he considers test-screenings to be very useful when it comes to fine-tuning comedies.  I've certainly thought test-screenings to be the work of the devil, but can't deny that they have their purpose.  Like anything else related to filmmaking, it's how it's used. It's mostly used badly, but...

So what's this about Bill Hicks and Basic Instinct?

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcnooj82 

 I've certainly thought test-screenings to be the work of the devil, but can't deny that they have their purpose.  Like anything else related to filmmaking, it's how it's used. It's mostly used badly, but...

Exactly.

And the Bill Hicks routine referred to in the comments is presumably: http://youtu.be/nrTifComO7U

It was working when I looked at it about 30 minutes or so before this post:

http://ca.jezebel.com/5802300/see-the-original-unused-ending-to-election

Could anyone make out what he wrote?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Will Kane 

Could anyone make out what he wrote?

I think it's just "Dear Tracy" then we cut away before he writes anything else.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joshua Miller 

I think it's just "Dear Tracy" then we cut away before he writes anything else.

Gotcha, thanks.

I'm curious just how the fuck that ends up on a random VHS tape in a Delaware flea market.  Maybe there are more hidden gems out there...
 

Here's what the article at slashfilm posted about what he might have written:

And just in case you are unable to read what Jim write at the end of the scene (the VHS transfer is pretty crappy), here is an excerpt from the original screenplay:

        CLOSE ON JIM

        He looks at the yearbook. He looks at Tracy. He looks out the
        windshield. It's all so odd.

        CLOSE ON THE BLANK PAGE JIM begins to write:

        "Dear Tracy,"

In the book, it just says that he started to write but nothing about what he actually wrote.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Will Kane 

Gotcha, thanks.

 

I'm curious just how the fuck that ends up on a random VHS tape in a Delaware flea market.  Maybe there are more hidden gems out there...
 

 

That's nothing. The First Doctor adventure "The Dalek's Master Plan" was 12 parts (or 13 depending on who you ask) and was once completely lost. Parts 5 and 10 ending up turning up in the basement of a Mormon Church*. Part 2 of "Evil of the Daleks" was found in a car boot sale I think, and parts 1,4,5 and 6 of "The Ice Warriors" were found in a walled up cupboard at the BBC. Part 1 of "The Crusade" turned up in New Zealand. The complete "Tomb of the Cybermen" turned up in Hong Kong and they've recovered many, many episodes from all over Africa.

Then you have "The Reign of Terror". Parts 1,2 and 3 were found in the Greek part of Cyprus at the national broadcaster. Parts 4,5 and 6 of that set were thought to have been in what became the Turkish part of Cyprus (at the then national broadcaster's offices there) but are suspected to have been blown up in an artillery strike (The BBC already had a copy of part 6). 

Basically, the stories about how the BBC destroyed or lost so much of the early Doctor Who and then finding them is an epic (but sad) story in itself.

*There's some debate as to whether it was an actual Mormon Church or just a building they owned, leased or were using. What's less contentious is that Mormons were involved in some capacity in finding them.