Leon Directors Cut Released 14th September

As part of the Luc Besson collection we will finally be getting the directors preferred cut of Leon with an additional 24 minutes of footage. It's something that I have been waiting a number of years to see. Besson has long been one of my favourites and while I own all the films on DVD I will be upgrading all of them. Visually his films are stunning and a film such as the Big Blue is going to look stunning in Hi-Def.

Anyone considering buying the Big Blue should be warned that the French Blu Ray of Le Grande Blu includes Atlantis as a bonus feature on the second disc.

ziedth

24 min of what thougn k? I'm a big fan of leon but i could do without an extra round of dressing up game,
Just be deadly to see more of hi in action or gary oldmans character.

speedboatchase

Not sure I want extra ever so pervy undertones between their relationship either...

Sad Professor

ziedth wrote: »

24 min of what thougn k?

From imdb:

New scenes found in the International Cut include:
- Mathilda asking Leon to have sex with her and Leon refusing;
- Leon explaining why he had to leave Italy and go to New York when he was 19 years old;
- Mathilda and Leon sleeping together in a bed;
- Mathilda threatening to shoot herself playing Russian roulette.
- Leon and Mathilda hitting the home of a tattooed drug dealer, and setting fire to his supply of drugs;
- New training missions where Mathilda learns the ropes of becoming an assassin.
- Leon and Matilda going to a restaurant to celebrate her first hit

I have the German DVD of this version. It's been a while since I've seen the original cut but I thought the longer cut was far better. It deals with the sexual tension head on, rather than leaving it as an undertone and letting the audience's imagination run riot.

MagicMarker

Sad Professor wrote: »

From imdb:

New scenes found in the International Cut include:
- Mathilda asking Leon to have sex with her and Leon refusing;
- Leon explaining why he had to leave Italy and go to New York when he was 19 years old;
- Mathilda and Leon sleeping together in a bed;
- Mathilda threatening to shoot herself playing Russian roulette.
- Leon and Mathilda hitting the home of a tattooed drug dealer, and setting fire to his supply of drugs;
- New training missions where Mathilda learns the ropes of becoming an assassin.
- Leon and Matilda going to a restaurant to celebrate her first hit

I have the German DVD of this version. It's been a while since I've seen the original cut but I thought the longer cut was far better. It deals with the sexual tension head on, rather than leaving it as an undertone and letting the audience's imagination run riot.

meh

keefg

ziedth wrote: »

24 min of what thougn k?

An extra 24 mins of getting suckers who already own the film to buy it again just to see the crap footage that never made the cut when the film was released.;)

Mossy Monk

I have never bought it so I may purchase this.

faceman

I got a roasting the last time this came up but I still stand by my guns.

I prefer the original cut of Leon to the Director's cut. The sexual suggestions in the director's cut dont work in my view.

One of the things I love about watching a Besson film though is you are watching arty films without often realising it!

Karl Hungus

There's not many films that I own on DVD that I'd buy on Bluray. Leon is the exception. I'll be picking this up.

bnt

I don't have any HD capability, and won't for many years, but what I would love to see is this Director's Cut on the big screen, in digital. :cool:

TheIrishGrover

I got this a good few years back on R1 DVD. The extra scenes are very good but it is easy to see why they cut most of them out as I can imagine they would have feared a (unjustified) Daily-Mail-Ban-This-Peado-Filth-Movie type backlash.

The scenes do add to the movie and it is worth an upgrade IMHO

Galvasean

Sounds interesting (if a little disturbing). I must look it up. Is it also on DVD or just BluRay?

senordingdong

Some of those scenes sound like great additions but some sound uncomfortable.

That said, the majority of the story was about the two of them building their ****ed up relationship and the action secondary.

So this may not be as bad as it sounds.

Gadfly

I ordered Leon on blu-ray (directors cut), from Amazon in France last week. Had I know it was to be available in September I probably would have waited for the English release. Watching it on a 46" FHD TV was amazing. You have to turn off the French over-dubbing. And apart from the credits, it's exactly the same. Both versions are available on the disc. I paid 33 euro including P&P.

You need the extra 24 minutes to fully appreciate this movie - controversial though it is.

It's my all-time favourite movie. I know the script off by heart.

keefg

keefg wrote: »

An extra 24 mins of getting suckers who already own the film to buy it again just to see the crap footage that never made the cut when the film was released.;)

This is one of the rare cases when it's no just a money making exercise. Besson has wanted his cut to be released but the old distributors simply weren't interested. The extra footage is supposed to drastically change the film and add to it. It's not like one of those Unrated DVDs which adds in an extra 30 seconds of someone swearing.

faceman wrote: »

I got a roasting the last time this came up but I still stand by my guns.

I prefer the original cut of Leon to the Director's cut. The sexual suggestions in the director's cut dont work in my view.

One of the things I love about watching a Besson film though is you are watching arty films without often realising it!

Besson is all art, well the films he directs himself. His insistence that he would only direct 10 films is something which has always bugged me. He's one of the few names who will instantly attract me to a film but by and large the vast majority of his produced and written stuff is brainless fluff for the most part.

Galvasean wrote: »

Sounds interesting (if a little disturbing). I must look it up. Is it also on DVD or just BluRay?

It's on both DVD and Blu Ray but this is a definite Blu Ray buy for me.

Voodu Child

Got it (the Leon DC blu-ray) a few months back, its an excellent disc. Recommend it highly, very nice picture quality.

BopNiblets

People were waiting for this cut really?
I've had it for years on my shelf, R1 DVD though.

I like the extra scenes, the training (ring trick!) and Matilda getting drunk on champagne are good.

What did people think of Angel-A? Nice film.

ziedth

Deleted User wrote: »

This is one of the rare cases when it's no just a money making exercise. Besson has wanted his cut to be released but the old distributors simply weren't interested. The extra footage is supposed to drastically change the film and add to it. It's not like one of those Unrated DVDs which adds in an extra 30 seconds of someone swearing.



Besson is all art, well the films he directs himself. His insistence that he would only direct 10 films is something which has always bugged me. He's one of the few names who will instantly attract me to a film but by and large the vast majority of his produced and written stuff is brainless fluff for the most part.



It's on both DVD and Blu Ray but this is a definite Blu Ray buy for me.

You surely can't mean taken as mindless fluff

When a previous poster was listing out scenes i would love to have seen him throw in something really random or disturding and see who would be the first to point it out

”Leon takes Matilda too doctor for pregnancy test" or something like that

dirtynosebeps

Deleted User wrote: »

As part of the Luc Besson collection we will finally be getting the directors preferred cut of Leon with an additional 24 minutes of footage.

it's not this is it? , i got it when i was in america about 10 years ago.