Trouble for ACROSS THE UNIVERSE? Studio recuts? Taymor leaving? Lordamercy!

Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. If you're like me, then you'll have really dug the ACROSS THE UNIVERSE trailer that hit the net a couple months back. I'm a big Beatles fan (who isn't?) and the trailer just made me smile. What made me turn that smile upsidedown was reading in the trades this morning that Joe Roth apparently recut the film without telling director Julie Taymor. Roth is producer on the film, but has also directed such gems as CHRISTMAS WITH THE KRANKS and AMERICA'S SWEETHEARTS... although I actually don't hate AMERICA'S SWEETHEARTS... just don't feel much of anything about it. Why the recuts? Well, the movie was originally due out in September of '06, so I'm sure that plays a part, but I always have to shake my head when I hear about things like this. There are some filmmakers you hire realizing you're getting the whole package, going all the way to the river with 'em. It's like when Terry Gilliam gets butt-fucked... Did you not know you hired Terry Gilliam to make a movie? Let him make his movie! I don't want to compare Taymor to Gilliam. She hasn't earned it yet, but she's made some really quality films and what Roth did to her was really shitty. Normally I'd want to support the filmmaker and blame the studio, but sometimes the studio is right. Look at DONNIE DARKO director's cut vs. theatrical cut. But here I'm finding it difficult to see the studio's side of things. The test screening reviews we got were very positive. They were from a while back, so I'm assuming it was Taymor's work in progress that they saw... Now, Taymor's threatening to take her name off the film. Yikes. Let's hope a decent film somehow pops out of these two fighting parents.