Cult classic 54 gets much gayer director’s cut

In an interview in the new Style Issue of Attitude, director and screenwriter Mark Christopher tells all about the director’s cut re-release of his cult classic 54, set to screen at London’s upcoming BFI Flare LGBT Film Festival.

The movie was originally released in the summer of 1998, and it shed light on the tantalising world of sex and drugs inside the legendary New York nightclub Studio 54. The movie was filled with up-and-coming stars such as Ryan Phillippe, Neve Campbell and Salma Hayek.

54 follows the main character Shane O’Shea (Phillippe) as he embraces “the sexually liberated world of Studio 54 and embarks on a series of sexual adventures with women AND men.”

But the cast and gritty story line was too much for the test screens, and studio execs ordered 40 minutes of cuts. All of Shane’s bisexual experiences were among the scenes removed from the film.

“We had made a dark, complex movie about a fucked-up time and we knew that in 1997 viewers in Long Island just wouldn’t get it,” Christopher tells Attitude.

Now, 17 years later, Mark Christopher has the chance to recreate his movie the way he intended it to be when it was first released. Viewers watching the remake can expect a much darker, more explicit, and yes, gay version of 54 at BFI Flare.

As well as replacing the missing 40 minutes, Christopher worked to reverse many of the studio rewrites. He was also able to rewrite Shane O’Shea’s opening speech in the film, which Ryan Phillippe came in to re-record. It “makes the film altogether more special,” he says.

“There is way more sex and drugs in this version, but the characters are more developed now. There is a sweetness and innocence there that will suprise some people. The story is a simple three-way love story between Shane, Greg and his wife Anita, which, when cut became a clichéd love story between Ryan’s character and Neve’s. This is more than just a director’s cut – this tells a totally different story.”

54: Director’s Cut screens on March 27 and 28 as part of the BFI Flare London LGBT Festival.

For a full guide to the highlights of the festival, pick up Attitude’s current Style issue – with cover girl RuPaul on the front. The issue is available to download to your mobile, iPad or tablet device now, at Pocketmags.com/Attitude.

The issue is out in shops now and you can also have it delivered directly to your door at newsstand.co.uk.