Julie Taymor in Conflict Over New Beatles-Scored Film

According to the New York Times, Tony Award-winning director Julie Taymor is unhappy with the way a studio executive has edited her new film, "Across The Universe."  Taymor is very pleased with her own cut of the movie.

"My creative team and I are extremely happy about our cut and the response to it.  Sometimes at this stage of the Hollywood process differences of opinion arise, but in order to protect the film, I am not getting into details at this time," expressed Taymor in a statement. 

Roth (The Last of the Mohicans) says his version of the film is an "experiment," and hopes that they can reach some kind of compromise.

The newspaper reports: "Ms. Taymor delivered the movie to Joe Roth, the film executive whose production company, Revolution Studios, based at Sony, is making the Beatles musical, he created his own version without her agreement. And last week Mr. Roth tested his cut of the film, which is about a half-hour shorter than Ms. Taymor's 2-hour-8-minute version."  The film was completed in 2005, and Taymor has been editing it for the past year (it was originally slated for a Sept. 2006 release).  "Taymor was still making her own final edits to the film when she learned several weeks ago that Mr. Roth had edited another, shorter version."  The Times says that Roth, who was concerned for length, reportedly vowed not to allow a director final cut after the failure of the film Gigli, which he produced.

Taymor, who won a Tony Award for directing the Broadway musical The Lion King and who is also known for equally visually imaginative films such as Titus and Frida, is the director of Across the Universe, which features Evan Rachel Wood, Jim Sturgess, Salma Hayek and Eddie Izzard, among others.  Set to the songs of the Beatles, the 1960's-set film is described by the Times as a "$45-million psychedelic love story" about a British boy and American girl.  The film includes a mixture of live action with painted and three-dimensional animation and puppets.

Her other credits include the recent Metropolitan Opera production of The Magic Flute, as well as productions such as Juan Darien, The Tempest, and Oedipus Rex.

According to the Times, "Mr. Roth said he believed that the current tensions would be worked out, and that Ms. Taymor would find the best, final version of the film somewhere between his own and her last cut." 

"I only hope that we will be able to complete the film we set out to make," said Taymor.