It’s very common in Hollywood for not-so-famous actors to have their scenes cut from movies even after done with the entire shooting. It happens for a variety of reasons: the scene may seem unnecessary, or the script may need some last-minute changes. So the director makes the changes accordingly.
However, it’s not always the starving actors who face this; sometimes the names are big, yet they get their scenes cut. There have been innumerable occasions where some of the most prominent actors of our time ended up on the deleted scenes reel of some of the best (and worst) movies of recent years. The same happened with Spider-Man actor Tobey Maguire.
Why Tobey Maguire Was Cut from This Oscar-Winning Movie?
Tobey Maguire is one of the most well-known actors in Hollywood. One of the most well-known actors in Hollywood is Tobey Maguire. Since his role as Spider-Man, Maguire has gathered an avid following. His role in the Life of Pi film, however, was dropped by famed director Ang Lee.
In fact, Academy award-winning Director Lee decided to remove Maguire from the entire film. The reason? Because Lee thought the actor was too famous for his small part. Lee realized after the filming wrapped that Maguire’s star power dwarfed the performance.
“I misjudged the situation,” said Lee. “I underestimated the power of stars.”
“I love Tobey. But it’s a small part,” he added. “So when it’s a movie star sitting there, it captures attention. It didn’t really work out.”
Life of Pi is based on the best-selling novel of the same name and follows a young man who is the only survivor of a shipwreck. Maguire would have played a journalist interviewing Pi as an older man.
What Tobey Maguire Had to Say on this Omission?
Nonetheless, there were no grievances between Ang Lee and Tobey Maguire, and the actor had nothing but huge support for the director.
Maguire stated: “I fully support Ang’s decision to go a different direction for this role in Life of Pi. Ang shared a lot of the film with me, and what I saw was absolutely beautiful.”
The actor and director worked together previously on 1997’s The Ice Storm.
Tobey Maguire, meanwhile, has a reputation for being difficult to work with. As his career grew, he began to project this kind of image more and more. Many of the accusations about Maguire’s attitude are true, but some of them are simply unfounded rumors.
Despite being without an established name in the cast, Life of Pi did remarkably well. It won four Oscars. It was also nominated for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, on top of earning $609 million at the worldwide box office.
Source: Looper
