David Twohy On 'Chronicles Of Riddick' Scene Cuts

[Wednesday, June 9th, 2004]
The Chronicles of Riddick director David Twohy says he had to cut a key scene featuring actress Kristin Lehman. She played a character named Shirah who offered Riddick (Vin Diesel) with information about his mysterious past and his role in an epic battle raging in the universe.

"There was a concern that, ... between the Judi Dench character, [Aereon,] who was a little mystical herself, and the Shirah character, played by Kristin, that there was just a little too much mysticism going on, and that it didn't allow the audience to get grounded as much as we needed them to be to go forth and enjoy the movie," Twohy told Sci-Fi Wire. "I'd be interested in putting [it] back in the film [in a director's cut on DVD.] ... [She] helps tell him what it is to be a Furyan and helps introduce the notion that your origin is with a race called the Furyans."

He went on to reveal that the Shirah scene was not the only scene cut from the movie. "[The] first version of the movie is ... two hours and 50 minutes long, and [the final cut is] two hours," Twohy said. "So 50 minutes of footage fell by the wayside between the first cut and the last cut. But, ... guys, that is not that unusual in the business. I mean, very few movies can say 'We lost one scene, and that's it.' It's been my history where I will shoot a lot more than we use. ... But I must say that the version we have out now has a lot of drive. It has a lot of energy, and it feels like a good pace for a summer film. ... But, ... to finish your question, yeah, it feels like certainly the director's version would be longer by about 15 minutes."

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