Studio distribution execs and MTV's production vp Michael Cole, it is believed, weren't comfortable with the film's morally blunt ending, which ends on a note of total denial and compartmentalization, and had left a bitter taste in the mouths of those who saw it at Sundance and in research screenings both before and after the festival.

MTV and Paramount, in the words of a distribution executive with a close-up perspective, "wanted a much more compromised, boiled-down ending." And although Lin, who had a final-cut clause negotiated into his contract by producer's rep John Sloss, says "this film would not be going out if I was not 100% behind it" and that "this version is closer to the one I wanted than the Sundance version," the TOMORROW that will arrive in theatres is definitely less provocative than what audiences saw in Park City.

The irony, says Lin, is that the sanded-down final version isn't playing any better with audiences. "People are still pissed off about it," he says, which suggests it probably won't perform any better commercially than the Sundance cut would have.

"The test screening scores were the same with the new version and the Sundance version," says the film's star, Parry Shen. "In fact, I think the release version scored a couple of points lower."

Set in some unnamed, affluent Orange County town, BETTER LUCK TOMORROW is about a clique of bright high-school seniors (played by Shen, Jason Tobin, John Cho, Roger Fan and Sung Kang) who lead double lives. On one level they're personable, good-looking, scholastic high-achievers (well, except for one -- Tobin's character -- who's pretty much an idiot) set to attend Ivy League colleges the following year. On another level they're a gang of criminals into nocturnal thievery and drug-dealing, with more money in their pockets than they know what to do with.

A less superficial read is that the film is not about Asian Americans or the mystique of leading a secret gangsta mafia life, or even about nihilistic, too-rich-for-their-own-good high-schoolers. It's about that great American psychological malady called compartmentalization, which we're all probably guilty of to some extent, and which the Gen Y types depicted here seem especially susceptible to.

The disturbance caused by the Sundance version was most pronounced among older viewers, and was mainly about what was seen as a lack of moral fiber. I was at a post-screening q & a at the Park City Library when TOMORROW was being attacked, and most of the complainers seemed to be gray-haired boomer types, although the distribution executive says younger viewers have voiced the same complaints.

I don't remember the closing dialogue exactly, but I've run my recollections past Lin and this is pretty close to what it was. The young protagonist (Ben Manibag, played by Shen) has taken part in the killing of a romantic rival, and towards the end he is heard saying, in effect, "Well, what I did wasn't right ...but I've got college to think about, and I've got a good life to look forward to, and I'm gonna move on."

That's gone now. Now Ben seems to go through a lot more guilt, to the point you feel he might even confess to the authorities. He doesn't, but as he drives off with the girl he's been after all through the film (Stephanie, played by Karin Anna Cheung, who happens to be the girlfriend of the guy he and his friends have killed), he says on the soundtrack, "For the first time in my life, I don't know what my future will hold. I don't even know what the other guys will do. All I know is, there's no turning back."

See the difference? In the Sundance version Ben said, "I did a bad thing, okay...but I'm not gonna let it fuck up my future." But in the current version he says, "Yeah, I sure am upset about what I did, and my friends may be too...and who knows what'll happen?" In the former version Ben ended up sounding more or less like a sociopath; in the latter he's tormented and squirming and apparently trying to work his way toward some kind of moral resolution.

The Sundance '02 version at least had an ending that said something. It said the best and the brightest of these kids, even if they've been part of a murder, are capable of putting bad experiences into a box, and putting that box in to a broom closet and moving on with their lives. These guys might be sociopaths or even monsters, it said, but they were also smart, attractive, scholastically accomplished, organized and congenial to outsiders, and that Ben, at least, would probably do pretty well in life.

The kids' ethnicity didn't really matter, although Lin's matter-of-fact portrayal of this community of Asian-Americans was significant in its refusal to make the story into something specifically or even half-specifically ethnic, or in any way racially-focused or patronizing.

To me, this new ending is obviously a cop-out. On top of which, the lack of a startling, amoral ending means the film now has -- hello? -- no ending, or a mushy inconclusive one, which is the same thing.

I remember what Karin Anna Cheung said after one of the screenings at the Park City Library in response to those older liberals raking it over the coals. (At this particular screening NEW YORK TIMES critic Elvis Mitchell, an admirer of the film, walked down in front of the audience and let the namby-pamby types have a piece of his mind.) Cheung, in any case, said she was intensely proud of having been a part of this film, despite what they might think or feel.

I'm sure Cheung is still supportive, but I honestly wonder if she feels the same surges of pride about this altered version. (A call to her home wasn't returned.)

Lin says he doesn't think the version that will play commercially is softened -- he prefers it, he says, to the Sundance version -- and diplomatically refuses to cast any stones at his MTV and Paramount colleagues.

"I think they were just doing their job," he comments. "I respect the [research-screening] process and I'm not trying to sound like a politician...but I can tell you for sure that I didn't compromise. I know that some of the muscle, as you say, is missing...but the present version is probably closer to the film that I wanted. I wanted to amp up the irony...and when the credits roll, that the audiences understands that Ben and his friends are going to have a life."

Right after the Sundance showings, says Lin, "three different companies were interested in acquiring [the film]...but when a couple of them said, 'But we want you to change it,' I said, no thanks. He feels, however, "that MTV - Cole and David Gale, principally -- really got the movie, and the ending and all of it. They really did.

"But then Paramount came into the picture, and the first thing MTV and Paramount did was to get a sense of how people felt about it," Lin recalls. The test-screening process, he says, "was pretty painful, but as painful as it was, it was an interesting learning experience. I know that all through [it ] I wanted to stay true to the film, and I didn't want to change what it was about to begin with."

If the test-screening process has showed anything, it's that "[some] people are still really pissed" at it, says Lin. "Every version they tested" -- there were three or four, he says -- "people were pissed." He maintains, however, that "younger viewers have tended to get it better than the older audiences.

An attempt by MTV's in-house publicist to try and get Cole to pick up the phone before my deadline didn't pan out.

"To be totally honest, the Sundance cut I wasn't happy with," says Lin. "The thing I wanted to do was not lose the feeling that you got at Sundance...you don't know what he's going to do...I feel like the [amorality] is still there. I was trying for this in the Sundance version for this, but I didn't quite get that. I mean, I do love that Sundance version also, and I know what you're saying, but I'm happier with the current version."

Shen disagrees. Speaking for the cast, he says, he claims that "we all like the original version better, of course. Everything you've been saying is dead-on. But we're all friends and we all hang out, and I remember asking [Justin] if there was one thing he wanted to do [with the film], to change it, and he's always said he wanted more time with Ben at the end...and once we got the money to do the re-shoots, he did that."

At least Lin resisted a finale idea that was suggested by other distributors, which was "to have a police siren heard on the soundtrack" as Ben and Stephanie drive off together. Shen says that "we would have gotten a significant amount of more money if we had put in that siren."

And at least Lin didn't go the route that Adrian Lyne took when he tried to figure out the ending to UNFAITHFUL, which was not to have boyfriend-killer Richard Gere go into the local police station to confess, but, incredibly, to split the difference and end it with Gere and wife Diane Lane sitting in their idling SUV outside the police station, unsure about what to do.

If Lyne had any balls, of course, he would have gone with an ending in which Gere and Lane's marriage would have been revitalized and improved by Gere's having killed the boyfriend. Knowing that her husband loved and wanted her enough to murder Oliver Martinez would have turned Lane on and made her fall in love again and maybe even have better orgasms. This might have turned some people off, granted, but it would have at least been something.

Oscar Reactions

"This is so great! Thank you so much for all of your support of THE PIANIST! See...the good guys do end up on top sometimes!! What a great night! Everyone at Focus is still reeling. Thanks again." -- A friend of Roman's and The Pianist

"Michael Moore was indeed, as you put it, way too 'strident, to say the least. His last shouted comment to Bush--- 'Your time is up!'--- echoing Bush's words to Saddam, was simply appalling. This equating of Bush with Saddam, Satan, Hitler, etc. is a dog that won't hunt. And I daresay there's enough 'fictition' in Moore's documentaries to disqualify him as a purveyor of cinema-verite or any kind of dispenser of objective truth. On the other hand, Brody's shout-out to his homeboy over in Kuwait was heartfelt and appropriate. Brody trumped Moore in every way. Both acceptance speeches will be long remembeed, but for very different reasons. And finally, how glorious was it the revel in the dulcet tones of Peter O'Toole once again. What a man! I'm about to viddy THE RULING CLASS for probably the nineteenth time." -- Josh Mooney

"Do you think the Academy's long-standing rep of being a bunch of closed-minded old codgers in recent years led this sudden change in surprising open-mindedness? I mean, last Sunday they actually awarded young men (young women always, but rarely young men in the past), subtle performances, directors forced to flee the country, and a rapper?! Even for those who weren't crazy about CHICAGO (but can acknowledge that a lot of people were), 2003 may mark a real turning-point for the Oscars actually meaning something again. Maybe they'll call up Robert Benigni and ask for his trophy back and then give it to Edward Norton like they should have." -- Jay Tierney

"I thought the best moment of the night was the bumbling Marty Richards, the CHICAGO proucer, losing his mind. If I am not mistaken, it was Chad Lowe's wife, Oscar winner Hillary Swank, who was among those yelling 'reminder thank you's' at Richards. She appropriately yelled "Your wife!" and in my mind fully absolved herself from having forgotten to thank her own significant other when she won a couple of years ago.

"Is Rob Marshall Harvey's bitch or what? Did you catch Harvey demanding he take the stage when CHICAGO won Best Picture? So he takes the stage and stands there looking like he wished he was back in his seat. The least he could have done was whisper some names into Marty's ear. Mazel Tov,of course, to THE PIANIST." -- Glenn Zoller

"If the Oscars had been presented at the end of February (which is how they're scheduled for the next two years), it's very likely that the year-end hype surrounding Scorsese and Day-Lewis vs. Jack Nicholson might have easily prevailed, thus preventing the far more deserving wins of Polanski and Brody. The current longer Oscar season provided extra time to let the hype burn out and for the smaller, less heavily promoted film to gather attention and word-of-mouth support. I think the chances are increased that some very good, very deserving high-quality films are going to get overlooked in the more cramped nominating and voting schedule of next year.

"I also thought Denzel Washington's 'by a nose' remark was offensive and inappropriate to Nicole Kidman's moment. I'm sure if Julia Roberts had opened the envelope last year and said, 'By a whisker...,' implying that Washington's win was more about the look of his bad-ass goatee than his performance, or that he had barely won over his competition, he'd have been much less gracious to Roberts than Kidman was to him." -- Tommy Westerfield

"Did you notice how poorly the montages for Best Actor and especially Best Actress were conceived? The did okay by the color clips, but the black-and-white clips were ghettoized, with barely enough time to register one image from the next, as if it were an embarassment. And it was -- to honor what one supposes was Janet Gaynor's win, in part, for SUNRISE, they used a clip from SUNRISE featuring George O'Brien and Margaret Livingston -- not Gaynor!" -- Doug Pratt

"Man, are you Americans weak of heart! From Roger Ebert to even you, Jeffrey...jeez, I`m disappointed! The Moore speech was too much for ya, eh?

"What is happening right now in Iraq is not a case of being for something or being against something. Troops are killing people without legitimacy while acting as an invading force. In this so-called democracy, George has decided to do this and American citizens themselves can`t do anything about it. The only thing people can do is match in the streets -- very pathetic. So excuse me for not being offended that someone use this opportunity to stand up to W`s position, on an actual stage that can counter this criminal war`s madness.

"A fierce American spoke Sunday for what he believed in instead of the majority out here(myself included) who are too comfortable in our little palaces to be disturbed by all things that are too raw or shocking or are too out of the ordinary. Too comfortable to actually do something, and all of us too much the hypocrite to be reminded that things are not going well.

"If Moore hadn't made make his speach so crass, you think Adrian Brody would have looked this dignified? Without Moore, Brody and his p.c. 'swift resolution' remarks would have made him look like a wuss. In any case, Moore was quite entertaining, don`t you think? Damn memorable. All in all this was a bloody great Oscar show honoring a year that had many bloody great movies too!" -- Sébastien Lecours, Quebec City.

Become The Enemy

"Regarding your Word piece about fighting dirty in Iraq:

"I remember in elementary school, when they taught us about the Revolutionary War, that the British marched through the countryside in bright red, immaculately tailored uniforms, while the upstart Americans hid in the trees and employed guerrilla warfare to snipe and pick the Brits to death. Maybe a lot of it was bullshit, but this tactic probably did contribute somewhat to our eventual win.

"It would seem now the tables are turned -- we are the British in the ridiculous bright red uniforms, marching straight through Iraq, where the folks we are fighting have home court advantage and are not afraid to hide in the trees, so to speak. Of course, it's not a perfect analogy or irony. After all, the British did not have 4,600 pound bombs to drop on our heads, like we do now. If they did, the Pledge of Allegiance debate would not be occurring since we would all sing 'God Save The Queen' at the beginning of each school day anyway." -- Mike Kirchhoff

Eden DVD...to come?

"I have a thought about 17-year-old Michelle's quest for an EAST OF EDEN DVD and those who might be putting one together some day. If they are in need of extras for such a DVD, they should look up a documentary by Harry Rasky done about Raymond Massey just before his death. I think it has a title something like RAYMOND MASEY: ACTOR FOR THE CENTURY. In it Massey discusses James Dean and EAST OF EDEN. Massey was a member of a well-known Canadian family and there's a high school within two miles of my home named after his brother Vincent.

It'sgreat to see people still discovering James Dean. I was a little kid when he died but can recall seeing his picture on magazine covers for years after. His death was a big break for Paul Newman who did a test for East of Eden. Dean was to have done SOEMBODY UP THERE LIKES ME, the film that rescued Newman after THE SILVER CHALICE, a 1954 debut film that drove him back east." -- H. Atkinson

"James Dean's performance in EAST OF EDEN ('55) is the greatest motion-picture screen performance of the sound era, and is therefore well worth seeing. Unfortunately, the DVD release is tied up in a rights conflict, so the only way to view the film at your own discretion is to have the beautifully letterboxed laser disc." -- Doug Pratt

"Let's go"

"William Holden definitely holds the copyright on that line. I think that moment in THE WILD BUNCH solidified my current love of movies. It goes to show it is not what you say, but how you say it. I still don't care for Bush like I did for Pike. Is there some parallel(sp?) between the two? Is THE WILD BUNCH one of Dubya's favorites? I do a great impression of Borgnine, by the way: "Pike!!...Pike! ....Piiiike!" -- Sam Prus

"Wow, I guess you and I are on the same wavelength!. I also thought of Holden's line when I heard that President Bush had said the same thing, since I consider that shot of Holden -- that awful, melancholy close-up -- to be one of the all-time great shots in American cinema, and perhaps of Holden's whole distinguished career. It is certainly one of his two quintessential screen moments, the other being his gasping last lurch on the sand in THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI.

"That said, and I suspect this is where you and I will part ways, I support President Bush and I absolutely support the war underway in Iraq.

"The sadness on Holden's face was matched by a resolved grimness in his eyes, truly an amazing intensity achieved by an actor asked to portray a man about to embark on what will most likely be a fatal journey. That same exact look was matched by President Bush in his speech, all the more haunting because this was no performance but something very, very real. His face was lined by weariness that was exhausting just to look at, and in his eyes there was also a weariness but also that same grimness. Except I would say Bush's words were more difficult to speak, because I think there is a kind of peace all men must achieve when they speak the words that they believe will lead to their own death and whomever may follow will follow.

"For Bush, his words propel many others into harm's way and, under his orders, they must march. And you can see the uneasiness of a leader forced to ask others to risk their lives, regardless of how just the cause. I will listen to most anti-war protests, but ones that call Bush a warmonger or eager for war are simply not paying attention." -- Paul Marzagalli

Role Playing

About Schmidt producer Michael Besman was first to identify last Friday's cast. They appeared together in Willaim Wellman's THE PUBLIC ENEMY (1931).

Today's cast: Sonny Bono, Deborah Harry, Pia Zadora, Jerry Stiller, Colleen Fitzpatrick, Divine, Ricki Lake....easy!

What's That Line?

Mark Kane of the L.A. law firm Robinson Delando Whitaker was first to identify last Friday's dialogue. Like Wednesday's dailogue, it was also from John McLaughlin's MAD DOG AND GLORY ('93). The two actors in the scene werre Robert DeNiro and once-great David Caruso.

A couple of hard guys are sitting in a restricted area talking about their backgrounds and upbringings. One says something that indicates a very bruised and hard-bitten attitude. The other guy says to him, "Jeez...what was your childhood like?" and the snarly guy answers, "Short."