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Nearly Thirty Minutes Cut From TREK BEYOND Final Edit

July 31, 2016

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In a newly-released interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, STAR TREK BEYOND director Justin Lin noted that the final length of his original edit ended up being two hours and twenty-seven minutes long, nearly thirty minutes longer than the final cut of the film.

Collider: So is there going to be a bunch of deleted scenes, or…

Lin: No… no. The thing that Simon and Doug, I have to say I really enjoy – these scenes come in long. But long and compelling, you know? At 2:27… well, I shouldn’t just blame them. The action sequence came in pretty long too!

It was interesting because at the end of the day, there was only a couple of scenes that I ended up not using. But it was really a contraction issue; a rhythm issue.

Collider: Oh I get it, a lot of people don’t realize you’re cutting frames, cutting little bits in the same frame, just to move it quicker.

Lin: For example, if you see in the movie, Scotty runs into the torpedo bay, and then you see Manas come in, and you see the torpedo being loaded [for Scotty’s escape from the Enterprise]. But there was this great one-er of going with Scotty – he’s trapped, he has nowhere to go – and he’s looking and looking and he finds that there’s a torpedo being repaired. He reacts like “What the hell!”

Simon did such a great job and I didn’t want to cut, and that was one of the last shots I ended up removing because it was not helping the overall [flow], even though I loved the performance; I loved that moment.

Collider: Will I see that on the Blu-ray, or will I not?

Lin: I haven’t decided yet.

Collider: I’m telling you, as all fans – they want to see this kind of stuff.

Lin: I know, I know… but I’ll tell you as a filmmaker – I spend hours and days and every frame of that movie, I’m fighting for, you know? And unless the studio gives me the money to go back in and get all those things right, I don’t feel comfortable sharing that.

Collider: I get it, I get it. It’s not finished.

Lin: Yeah. If it’s greenscreen and visual effects or CG is not totally done, it takes you out.

* * *

When we caught up with Lin at the London premiere, the director told us about how much material was scripted but never got shot due to time constraints, but this is his first statement about filmed footage that didn’t make it to the theatrical release.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eObxNzsZk4

There are hints to much of this deleted content in the various trailers and TV spots released ahead of the BEYOND debut, with several lines and shots present in those promotional videos not included in the final film.

uhura-boarding — Uhura’s status report appeared in the second trailer.

uhura-mercy — Another Uhura line, standing up to Krall and Manas, was removed.

drink — An ad-libbed, alternate line from the opening of the film appeared in a TV spot and web featurette.

resposne — Kirk and Spock don’t answer McCoy’s “You really want to head back out there?” in the final cut.

In addition, Simon Pegg revealed a deleted scene involving McCoy’s reluctance to carry a weapon to ShortList.com a few days ago:

There was a whole thread in the film which didn’t make the final cut about Bones picking up a gun and having a crisis of what it meant to fire a weapon. He is a life-saver and not a soldier.

There was some really nice stuff which didn’t make the cut – which often happens – and [Karl Urban] was great with all that stuff. He’s a very funny and cool guy to be around.

foggy-yorktown — A foggy view of Yorktown from the December teaser trailer.

Finally, we also know that a significant time with the captured Enterprise crew also didn’t make the final edit, thanks to Natasha Young’s recounting of her time on the BEYOND set. This also included the scenes shot by Jason Matthew Smith – featuring the death of Lt. “Cupcake” Hendorff at the hands of Krall – all of which were left on the cutting room floor.

worried — The crew’s terror – and what they’re looking at – are all out.

Oh, and this wasn’t a cut from the trailers, but it’s interesting to note that this consistantly-used shot of the Swarm ships buzzing Yorktown’s towers – while the station crew runs below – ends up actually being the final resting place of the Franklin at the edge of the waterfront in the final cut, with the Yorktown crew running in to help.

The marketing teams needed shots of Yorktown for the trailers, as one BEYOND editor told us, but because not much was available so early in the post-production process, this shot of the Frankin resting on the city plaza was provided – with the downed starship digitally removed.

franklin-shot — The Franklin was ‘painted out’ of this shot for use in trailers to avoid spoilers.

Anyone who reads our site regularly knows that we’re a big fan of those deleted scenes, alternate takes, and other cuts that end up not making the final edit – so we’re hoping to see at least some of this content in the STAR TREK BEYOND Blu-ray content!