[Disconnected] was a very special movie for Aiden. It was his next project after a very successful movie and the momentum was with him, especially with his growing popularity. He wanted to leave a mark this time and hopefully continue his streak of hit movies.
He was a little disappointed about losing out on the lead role but in the end, he couldn't do much.
Having good backing in this industry was normal and if he looked closely to it, it wasn't even Seth's fault. It was his agency who was pushing for him to get the lead role and any actor would want to play the lead of a movie.
That's why, instead of bearing a grudge against him, Aiden just wanted to give a great performance.
Something that made people think that he was the most memorable character in the movie and as the shooting had gone by, he was confident that his performance was getting better and better.
It was his way of saying that no matter what role, he could still leave an impact.
The scene in which Andrew found out that he was betrayed was his favourite and it had also been labelled as a 'Breakout scene' by his system.
Due to this, Aiden was very confident that the movie would do well but his expectations had been completely broken when he had seen the final edited version.
There were obviously hints that this was going to happen.
One of them was SGA promoting Seth Douglas so much like he was the only person in the movie. Seth's role was the biggest but there were other characters too that were equally important.
Just the movie was from his perspective.
The other hint was Jesse telling him that SGA had interfered with the editing a lot right before the premiere.
A bad feeling had engulfed his heart at that moment and the movie had turned out to be a choppy mess in the end.
While watching it, he had a feeling that it wouldn't work.
Many times a movie turns out to be way different than the script as there were a lot of factors involved like the budget, the feel and editing.
This was the same case.
The script of [Disconnected] was very well written but during the editing process, they had taken out every scene in which Seth wasn't looking good.
Aiden was obviously enraged to know what SGA had done by interfering. He had even asked Jesse and Wade if they could edit it better before the release but it was not possible.
They didn't have that much authority.
While Jesse had become too angry and started speaking against Black Line Cinema and SGA on the internet, Aiden had been thinking a lot about how he could turn the situation around.
Obviously, the cinematic release was something that no one could save but it was also true that the movie was much better than the version that had been shown on the big screens.
It was then that an idea had struck his head.
"What do you have to show?" Tom asked, raising an eyebrow.
"You will know it." Aiden said, taking out a pen drive from his pocket. "Connect it to the TV and play the movie that's in it."
"Okay."
Tom was confused as he held the pen drive in his hand. He walked up to the TV that was in front of the sofa and looked around to find the spot to connect it.
After connecting it, he picked up the remote and played the movie. Opening credits came soon and after two minutes, the title of the movie came.
Everyone blinked their eyes in surprise seeing that.
"Why are we watching [Disconnected]?"
George asked, his eyes glancing between the TV screen and Aiden who was just smiling.
"It's not the version that we all saw in the theatres."
"Then?"
"It's a director's cut. Jesse edited it himself before SGA came and destroyed it. He saved a copy for himself and I asked if I could borrow it to watch it."
Everyone finally understood what was going on.
Every movie would always have a director's cut as directors didn't like to edit out a lot of scenes from their movie. If they could, they would want to keep every scene.
Studios would mostly cut down the director's cut to an appropriate length before releasing the movie but the director's cut had become a special edition of a movie as cinema moved forward.
In the early 2000s, director's cut of famous movies would be released in the form of DVDs and fans who loved the movie would buy it, even if it meant paying a higher price.
Even in the current age, superhero movies would release versions of their movies with additional scenes that didn't make it to the actual release.
There was even a very interesting incident in which fans of a franchise protested online for months for the studio to release the director's cut of the movie. In the end, the studio relented and the director's cut became a big hit.
"Is it any different from the theatrical release? I heard that Jesse had a big fight with SGA and now they are in a conflict against each other."
Jody asked and Aiden nodded his head. The tabloids were having a field day due to that fight.
"Yeah, Jesse becomes a monster if someone ruins his work. He doesn't even care about anything else. As for your question, yeah, the cut is way better than the release. It has a lot of important scenes and the editing is smooth."
Aiden had seen it last night and was very surprised by it.
"It should be fun then."
Sasha commented and all of them watched the movie. The first 20 minutes of it were almost the same as the versions they had watched but it changed after that as new characters were introduced properly.
Unlike the theatrical release, Andrew had a proper introduction scene in the bar where he would impress Mark. Other characters were also explained a lot.
Their past, the motives and their actions were very clear as both Andrew and Mark struggled to build a company worth million dollars.
It was then that the scene in which Andrew would get the idea of snapbook would appear and he would urge Mark to think big. Not a million dollars but billions.
After that, the story would become very fast as lots of things would come up. New partnerships, accusations and the changing personalities of the characters.
It was very clear.
'It's like I'm watching a whole new movie.'
Tom thought and wasn't able to stop himself from wondering of a scenario in which this version was released in the theatres. It would have surely appealed to the people way more and would have emerged as a hit.
The opening of the movie was good anyway. It was only due to so many bad audience reviews that the movie had flopped hard.
This version was better in so many ways than that as it actually presented the arcs one by one. Every scene was connected to each other and the sequence was in an orderly manner.
Moreover the movie was giving time to get the characters to connect with the audience.
Like the scene in which Andrew broke up with his girlfriend.
It was missing from the theatrical release but due to the director's cut having it, it gave a whole new dimension to the character and portrayed how much he was willing to sacrifice.
Dustin's character Sebastian was also done justice this time. He was introduced alongside an 80s track that just made him look cooler. Playing the role of a cunning douchebag who gave people the hope of a rich life, Dustin nailed it.
He had a screen presence that was hard to miss and his way of talking and actions was surely something that had the ability to make people hate him.
As the movie was going on, Wade whispered to Aiden.
"You are not thinking of making Black Line Cinema release this version in the theatres right? They are never going to agree with it because of the loss they had. I'm pretty sure they hate [Disconnected] more than the audience at the moment."
"No, why will I do that?" Aiden asked, looking at him strangely.
"You suddenly pulled out the director's cut out of nowhere to show us. It's odd." He glanced at the others who were engrossed in the movie. "These people don't know you but I do. You have a knack of turning situations in your favour."
Wade thought about the time when Aiden had lost out on the role of Kai in [Black Saints] to Tyler Reed. He had given up hope but Aiden had solved the situation quickly and in a way that was too discrete.
The same had happened in the case of [30 days of Happiness].
In the end, one had become an iconic role for Aiden and the second had gotten him his first solo hit.
Wade couldn't take Aiden lightly.
"I pulled it out to see their reactions and confirm my thoughts about the director's cut." Aiden finally muttered.
"What thoughts?"
"That it's a masterpiece compared to that choppy version."
Wade nodded at that. This version was miles better and gave a much better story. Rather than focusing on one character entirely, it focused more on the creation of a billion dollar company and the price for power and greed.
"Even if it is, it won't reach the audience."
Wade frowned, shaking his head but Aiden didn't think like that.
"No, it would." He smiled. "You earlier mentioned that Zetflix was probably going to get the streaming rights."
"Yeah, they're getting it for pretty cheap but what are you thinking?"
"It's a bit hard to explain but just know that I have a good plan in mind."
He said with a firm expression.
…
