On Marc Maron's podcast, he asked PTA if he'd re-cut Magnolia. His response surprised me: "Absolutely! I'd cut that *beep* down! It's waaayyyy too long." It is a long movie, but I don't know that I'd agree with the director on this one.
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This doesn't surprise me too much. He also seems to have found a magic (approximate) number for his last three films. There Will Be Blood is 2 hours 38 minutes, The Master is 2 hours 24 minutes and Inherent Vice is 2 hours 29 minutes. He'd probably make Magnolia closer to 2.5 hours if he were making it today.
shareMaybe he would, but I don't know. I think every second of it is genius. To me it's a perfect movie.
shareI think it's very sad and disappointing that he said that.
shareit's a great podcast/interview, as is most of Marc Maron's, and because I'm a huge fan of PTA, I've listened to this one a few times, and I think he was completely serious...Magnolia is one of my fav movies of all time, and certainly my fav by PTA...i agree with others, I think I'd rather him not cut it down, even though the "singing" scene is a bit odd/corny, I have a hard time wishing it had been cut...I like the movie as it is, even the bizarre frog scene!!
shareI've always thought of PTA as a reasonable gent. Magnolia's a youthful folly. Could happen to anyone.
"facts are stupid things" Ronald Reagan
When I watch it, I'm so immersed in the stories that I don't feel the time passing. Do you know what I mean?
Shorter movies feel longer and make me check the watch.
I think a lot of the game show scenes could be cut. The bar scenes with Henry Gibson could be shortened. A lot of other scenes cutoff be shortened. You'd be cutting some meat, not just fat, but it could be tighter. I think that whenever a Director has to choose the best scenes of a movie is good.
And we already know what the extended version would look like
Sure, you could cut it slightly here and there (in particular I'd sign off on cutting down the bar scenes a bit), but I love it the way it is. One thing that has to be considered in any discussion of the film's length is how many characters and storylines there are. None of them get more time, or lines of dialogue, than a major character in a typical movie would have, and probably less.
shareThe reason I wasn't so bothered by the length of Magnolia was the number of characters and story lines. I was interested in all of them.
shareI definitely agree that this movie could and should be cut.
There are scenes and storylines that go on for no reason really and are not that interesting.
Most of William H Macy's scenes - maybe even that entire storyline - could be removed altogether.
Julianne Moore's scenes are also not interesting.
Even that huge introduction, it's an ok introduction but did the movie really need it?
As a whole, the movie just does not justify over 3 hours.
It could be way tighter and with a better flow. This way it just drags along to the finish line.