QTATTOOS: A brief history and why we see so many of Colin Farrell's in the movie.
AMummified remains have revealed evidence of tattooing from as early as 5300 years ago in Asia.From Germany through Ireland, various preChristian tribes luxuriously covered themselves in woaded scarifications.In 54 B.C., Caesar described the the permanent blue body art of the Picts (Commentarii de Bello Gallico: L- V); and in 922 A.D., Ahmad ibn Fadlan (a member of an embassy of the Caliph of Baghdad) wrote of the Scando-Russo tribesmen as having arms decorated from "fingernails to neck" in patterns of dark blue.Due to its roots in animistic paganism, the Church prohibited it, and the preBanksian Gentry avoided it; however, common sailors/ "jacks"/ mercenaries/ adventurers were not Gentry.As applies to this film: Working class Elizabethan and Jacobean sailors/adventures (including the aristocratic Sir Walter Raleigh) often had symbolic, monochromatic tattoos or tattooed themselves (with mixtures of soot and urine) for many of the same reasons as today (self-expression; group membership; superstition; testosterony braggadocio) or for a secondary reason Scots wore clannish tartans and Irish fisherfolk wore cable-knit sweaters in family specific patterns: to aid in the positive identification of weathered remains).For TNW, most anachronistic tattoos ("Oriental technique" modern: delicately polychromed/pictorial) were camouflaged by being painted over with larger, bolder patterns (others were buried beneath a heavy make-up base) One of a handful of sacrifices of authenticity made for budget or comfort.Some of Farrell's personal decorations cover such acreage that camouflaging them beneath heavy applications of fleshy make-up base looked distractingly skin-graft-like in tests (and perspiration made them appear necrotic).Since digitally removing tattoos is prohibitively expensive, the solution was to disguise them with larger, bolder, archaic patterns.Surviving letters from the first Jamestown settlers to families and reports to the sponsoring Virginia Company described all the North American people (regardless of age, or sex) as being entirely tattooed, nude above the waist as adults (children were completely naked), and devoid of any hair except for a switch of ponytail with ornaments woven into it.
QWeren't love scenes cut from this to avoid paedoerotica charges?
AAs if Colin Farrell's love scene with a male character in 'Alexander' didn't cause him enough grief, now he's in one with a fourteen-year-old girl. But looking to avoid the sort of furor that erupted over one of Nicole Kidman's scenes with a young actor in 'Birth', the film-makers reportedly have reshot the scenes, toning them down.Colin Farrell stars as English colonist John Smith in The New World, and Q'orianka Kilcher plays Pocahontas. The film is said to be slavish to period detail and the love scene between the two was gentle, according to a defender, but when studio lawyers for the film saw an early cut, acording to a report, they nearly had a heart attack.Farrell was told to get romantic and sensual but knew there was a certain amount of kissing involved, a source told the British magazine The People. He played the scene brilliantly and he really put Q'orianka at her ease. But when the lawyers saw the finished product with Colin and Q'orianka rolling around on the ground kissing they flipped out. The lawyers were concerned about paedoerotica laws, and a tamer version of the scene was reportedly shot.
QHow many versions do exist of this movie?
AAt least three: there's of course the well-known Theatrical Version that was shown in cinemas and was released on D.V.D. Prior to this version the so-called Oscar's Cut was made in order to get a shot at the 2006 Academy Awards. This version is fifteen minutes longer than the later released Theatrical Version and was released in Italy only on D.V.D. A detailed comparison between the Theatrical Version and the so-called Oscar's Cut with pictures can be found here.The third version is the Extended Cut that is even longer than the so-called Oscar's or Italian Cut and runs nearly 172 minutes. Here, changes can be found throughouth the movie in comparison to the Theatrical Version. In total more than 80 changes can be found and a detailed comparison between the Theatrical Version and the Extended Cut with pictures can be seen here.
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