Just last week James Bond fans complained that censors had ruined Skyfall. But they may have helped to improve Cloud Atlas, which stars Tom Hanks, Halle Berry and Chinese actress Zhou Xun (pictured). The film, described by Hollywood Reporter as “too convoluted for easy comprehension”, has done well at the Chinese box office, grossing $11 million since its premiere on January 31 versus only $78 million worldwide. And the speculation is that this might be because almost 40 minutes of its original 172-minute running time were cut by the censor, SARFT.
At the premiere, one of the film’s producers Lana Wachowski moaned about the edits to scenes featuring sex and violence. “It sucks really,” she initially complained, quipping that Chinese viewers could watch the full version online. But she now seems less perturbed about the scissors treatment: “About the news of my dissatisfaction with the China version of Cloud Atlas, it is a false statement. I believe in DDP [the Chinese distributor] and I am happy with the China version. I hope you will support Cloud Atlas,” she wrote on Sina Weibo.
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