Current changes planned for the edit, in chronological order:
- Added custom vanity plates
- The Scott Pilgrim vs. the Animation short runs before the feature (edited to remove titles and one use of the word “retarded”)
- Added custom retro “Feature Presentation” card
- Added scene of Scott meeting Knives
- Added in-scene OT.com, FE.org and Roccondil Rínon credits and my name to editor credit in opening titles
- Added brief scene of Knives catching the bus home
- Cut another use of “retard” (at this point, I’ve managed to cut it mid-shot, but I may try to do something a little more creative)
- Extra lines from Sandra & Monique and Julie at Julie’s party
- Extended version of package delivery scene
- Extended/alternative version of first date scene, including added snow FX
- Extended “morning after” scene
- Reincorporated original song by Crash & the Boys “We Hate You, Please Die”, and additional business for the band
- Extended song “Garbage Truck”
- Added short gag with Evil Ex #1 having to introduce himself twice
- Added short bedroom gag after the first Evil Ex fight
- Deleted Scott’s inane comment about “being allowed to date outside your race or whatever”.[1]
- Added a few lines at the castle
- Added “Envy’s jealous” gag
- Extended/alternative freak-out/hair dye scene for Knives
- Added “even briefly-er” line from the comic
- Added Nega-Scott’s appearance at Lee’s Palace
- Extended Clash At Demonhead song “Black Sheep” (need to find some extra footage for this; there’s some screen test footage of Brie Larson lip syncing on the blu ray but it doesn’t match well enough. Might even see if I can dig up some location footage from the real Lee’s Palace.)
- Slightly extended backstage confrontation scene
- Added Envy & Ramona’s “crummy way to end things” exchange
- Extended Pizza Pizza scene
- Added Nega-Scott’s appearance at the after-party
- Added a couple of bits of business to the Roxy fight (eg. “Or possibly his feet!”)
- Added intro subtitle for Gideon
- Extended exchange between Scott and Knives after the Katayanagi fight
- Extended breakup (using footage from the original ending)
- Extended “Ramona” song
- Extended scene with Scott walking in on Wallace and Chris (twice)
- Restored Knives’ cut line about “advanced American slut technology”
- Extended afterlife scene
I’m not sure whether to muck with the credits yet, but I do have a few ideas. There’s some very cute screen test footage on the blu ray which could potentially be used for video cast credits, although it isn’t complete: Aubrey Plaza and Anna Kendrick are absent entirely, as are all the Evil Exes save for Mae Whitman. I’m far from wedded to the idea, but I’ll have a bit more of a poke around on the blu ray and see if I can’t dig up something that would fit. Other ideas include:
- Restoring the full version of “Ramona” by Beck
- Recreating the “serial killer” ending concept considered for the movie but never filmed, as a mid-credits stinger (would need to find someone who can do a convincing Canadian newsreader impression)
- Making use of the “Summertime” music video, which can’t be incorporated into the film proper, but the song already plays over the credits.
I also have in mind a handful of minor edits to existing scenes — often as little as half a second here or there. It feels somewhat sacrilegious to do this to Edgar Wright, of all directors, but there are parts where I feel the chemistry between Cera and Mary Elizabeth Winstead needs a little tightening, and with the shifting of a line here, the deletion of a pause there, I may be able to improve it. We’ll see.
[1] I know Scott is meant to be kind of a dick, but there’s a difference between being kind of a dick and casually racist. Same goes for Kim’s two uses of “retard”, already cut — it’s true to life for how hipsters speak, but it’s unnecessary. It may be considered ironic, given I’m reincorporating a few elements that were originally cut for rating reasons, but this is more for characterisation purposes — I think the original line makes him too unlikeable. Michael Cera does play it well; Scott does appear to realise partway through the sentence that it’s inappropriate. But Knives’ response, “I don’t care,” really doesn’t help. I’ve managed to edit it such that she interrupts him at the word “date”, which serves the additional purpose of giving her a little more agency.