Paul Thomas Anderson: ‘One Battle After Another’ Won’t Get a Director’s Cut

Here’s another keeper from Konbini, the popular French media outlet, who recently spoke with “One Battle After Another” writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson and star Leonardo DiCaprio.

The story goes — and I had written about this in January and February — that “One Battle After Another” had a 3-hour cut that test-screened in a handful of states around the country. Puck’s Matt Belloni later reported that Warner Bros. were working hand-in-hand with PTA to shorten the film. The final runtime was around 2 hours and 40 minutes, so there’s at least 20 minutes of footage that was left on the cutting room floor.

Anderson was directly asked by Konbini about a director’s cut of the film, and he’s more than satisfied with what was released theatrically:

No, no. I mean, there were things that were cut. There are always things that were cut, but nothing significant or nothing that we would be proud of, I think. Probably things that, you know.

DiCaprio followed up:

I saw the early cuts, and there was great stuff in it, but look, the film is… how long is the film? Two hours and something? Something, yeah. And there’s not a moment in that film that, you know, doesn’t galvanize you and have the tension of moving forward with supremely high stakes. I think a longer version of it wouldn’t give you that adrenaline rush. You know, it wouldn’t have that same feeling of a chase and this impending doom coming towards these characters, you know, especially Willa — it wouldn’t be the same.

Leo is correct. I find “One Battle After Another” to be a flawed but very entertaining and fascinating film. Part of its charm is how frenetic the pace is. The 160-minute runtime zooms by, aided by Andy Jurgensen’s brilliant editing. There’s nary a moment where you’re actually bored or looking at the time — it all gels fairly well.

PTA has only one real instance where a “director’s cut” exists, and it’s tied to his debut feature. His original version of “Sydney” — later retitled “Hard Eight” — was re-edited by the studio, and although Anderson’s preferred cut did screen at Cannes, it has never been publicly released. The version available on home video is the studio-imposed edit, not his own.

Beyond “Hard Eight,” PTA hasn’t released alternate or extended “director’s cut” editions of any of his other films; what audiences see in theaters and on home release are usually the versions he considers final.