Why ‘The Bride’ Director Maggie Gyllenhaal Says Warner Bros. Asked Her to Cut Some Violence From Film: “It’s Just Too Much”

Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment Maggie Gyllenhaal , who helmed The Bride , is revealing why Warner Bros. asked her to cut some of the film’s sexual violence. During a recent interview on The New York Times ’ The Interview podcast , the actress-filmmaker opened up about her experience directing her first major studio film and the challenges that came with that, including The Bride undergoing test several test screenings. “There’s sexual violence. There’s violence. Because it’s a big studio movie, we tested and tested it. We had big screenings in malls, where people came to see it, which I had never been a part of as an actress or a director before. So fascinating,” she recalled. “And one of the things that they brought up was the violence: Is it too violent? And I was talking about it with a girlfriend of mine, who said — and she wasn’t being reductive — ‘I wonder if you had been a man making this movie, if you would have had the same response.'” Related Stories Movies Jessie Buckley Dedicates Actor Award Win to 'Hamnet' Co-Star Emily Watson: "You're the Realest of the Real" Movies Maggie Gyllenhaal's 'The Bride!': First Reactions From the Premiere Following the feedback at the screenings, Gyllenhaal said Warner Bros. “asked to take some of” the violence out, which is why the final cut is “a little bit pulled back from what was originally in the movie.” She also remembered Pam Abdy, who runs Warner Bros. Pictures with Mike De Luca, once telling her, “‘Maggie, you cannot have Frankenstein lick black vomit off the Bride’s neck. It’s just too much. You can’t do it.’ But she understood why I wanted it.” However, the director had a specific reason for how she wanted the violence to be depicted in the film, even if it “is very hard to watch,” because that’s reality. “One of the ...