Like more than three quarters of the men across the world, Colin Farrell managed to escape the unkindest cut of all at birth, but now it seems the scissors may have finally caught up with him and chopped out one of the biggest reasons why many were planning to see his new film - the promise of full-frontal nudity.
The touching drama "A Home at the End of the World" is already well-reported to contain a scene of the Irish one going the full monty whilst walking down a hallway. Farrell approved the scene, shot it, and talk of it came up on numerous articles about the film and from audience-goers who attended one or two sneak peeks of the flick in May.
Now, a few weeks ago, that approval looks to have been recinded although reasons for it are being debated right now. Today's The Sun reports that the scene has been cut by worried film bosses after test audiences "were transfixed by the size of his manhood". One source tells the paper "All you could hear were gasps when Colin appeared in his full frontal pose. The women were over-excited and the men looked really uncomfortable. It was such a sight it made it difficult to concentrate on the plot, so the decision was made to get rid of it".
On the other hand the original rumours about the cut (which appeared online almost a month ago) cited the more believable reasoning that with the scene the movie would've gotten an NC-17 rating, without it - just an R. The studio naturally probably feels that by getting the harsher rating it will limit or dissuade a lot of the audience.
The Catch-22 is by cutting out that shot it has already turned off many people who otherwise wouldn't have bothered with the film. Much like last year's "In the Cut", sure people turned up to see a Jane Campion/Meg Ryan thriller but if Meg hadn't bared all would it have gotten anywhere near the word of mouth and interest that it received? Very likely not.
Farrell, who briefly flashed frontal in "Tigerland" once described his own appendage as "the size of a cashew nut" (pause that film's DVD just right and you can judge for yourself), isn't taking this news lying down. The man (once subject of wild rumours that he was spotted outside one of LA's most famous 'penis extension' surgery clinics), is up against the wall on this one and apparently greeted the news "with fury". He's "demanded the scenes must be included in the DVD release of the film". The Producers have apparently agreed to his request and the big Irish wang will swing its way onto the disc version sometime towards year's end.
Whether the scene will make it into international cuts of the film for now is unsure. I contacted a Warner Independent Pictures rep about this whole issue almost a fortnight ago, so far no response.
Thanks to 'Jeff', 'Jill' & 'Craig'
