Todd is too Sweeney

Ah, Tim Burton must be having a ball working on SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET. Because I’m pretty sure there’s nothing he loves more than studios making him compromise on his artistic vision. Apparently the early footage of the movie has been so extremely graphic (read: bloody) that execs are requesting the film be re-cut. As it stands, the film would currently receive an R-rating, whereas the studio would prefer a PG-13:

“Tim’s not happy that the studio is asking for so many cuts to the cutting, as it were,” someone connected to the film told the Daily Mail. “The thing is, the studio really likes the film and they want to make it accessible to as big an audience as possible – which means stemming the blood flow. But that’s a bit difficult for a story involving a guy who gets high slitting throats.”

All we need now is for Kevin Smith to claim he has read Burton’s ending and that he actually had the idea first. That should be enough to send Burton into a mega meltdown and some years later, an entertaining VH1 special.

If you don’t know, the movie is based on an old 19th Century legend about a man who uses his front as a barber to kill all the people that have ever done him wrong, while his mistress Mrs. Lovett uses their bodies to make ‘the worst pies in London’.