Alexander Payne’s Election came out in 1999 and I don’t think it’s too hyperbolic to call it one of the best comedies of all time (people were still talking about it in 2008, when it provided a pretty dead-on metaphor for the Hillary Clinton-Barack Obama primary race).  But apparently the film, which was based on a novel by Tom Perrotta, originally had a different ending (based on the ending in the novel) which wasn’t included with any version of the DVD or referenced in the commentary.  Thanks to a reader tip, SlashFilm was able to find a VHS transfer of it online, which you can watch after the jump.

/Film reader John G sent me a link to the six-minute original ending sequence, which had been recently uploaded to YouTube. This footage was reportedly discovered on an unlabeled VHS tape containing an early work print of the film, sold at a local flea market.  Apparently they screened the film with this ending and the conclusion tested horribly. I heard that they sat on this ending for almost a year, before deciding to reshoot the ending as a more cynical epilogue. [SlashFilm]

In final version of the film (SPOILER ALERT, BUT HONESTLY IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN ELECTION YOU SHOULDN’T COME CRYING TO ME ABOUT SPOILERS), Mr. McAllister moves to New York, where he works at the museum of Natural History, and hucks a milk shake at a limousine after he sees Tracy Flick getting in it with a Senator (“Who. The. F*ck does she think she is?”).  In the version below, Mr. McAllister is still in Nebraska working at a car dealership, where Tracy Flick comes to buy a car before heading off to college at Northwestern (WHITE AND PURPLE REPRESENT).  It’s actually pretty mushy-gushy (and wrong for a whole host of reasons, not the least of which being that it’s hard to imagine a high school social studies teacher selling cars) and it’s easy to see why they dumped this in favor of the eventual ending. The nicest thing I can say about it is that because the quality is so bad, at first I thought Mr. M was wearing a piano-key necktie.

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"Aw, he's so sweet. Shame they're going to electrocute him."

Here’s Robert Pattinson starring in the new trailer for Water for Elephants. I have to admit, as soon as I saw “Robert Pattinson” and “Water for Elephants” in the same sentence, I couldn’t shake the image of RPattz giving some fat Twilight fan a golden shower, but maybe I’m a little screwed up like that.

Based on the acclaimed bestseller, WATER FOR ELEPHANTS presents an unexpected romance in a uniquely compelling setting. Veterinary school student Jacob meets and falls in love with Marlena (Reese Witherspoon), a star performer in a circus of a bygone era. They discover beauty amidst the world of the Big Top, and come together through their compassion for a special elephant. Against all odds — including the wrath of Marlena’s charismatic but dangerous husband, August (Christoph Waltz)– Jacob and Marlena find lifelong love. [Apple]

Well sure.  If Miley Cyrus can find love over beach volleyball and saving a nest of sea turtles from a raccoon, why not a “special elephant?”  I find it’s funnier if you read “special” as “retarded”, by the way. “We hated each other at first, but every afternoon we’d go throw rocks at the retarded elephant.  We’d mock the way he walked, hold peanuts just out of reach of his trunk, and just laugh and laugh.  Eventually we fell in love.”

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A Hollywood Reporter article claims How Do You Know, the new James L. Brooks romantic comedy starring Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd, and Jack Nicholson, cost $120 million (before tax breaks brought it down to $100 million).  Jesus, who planned this, the producers of the Spider-Man musical?

One reason for the price tag is old-fashioned salaries for the pic’s talent: Reese Witherspoon ($15 million), Jack Nicholson ($12 million), Owen Wilson ($10 million) and Paul Rudd ($3 million) received their quotes, and Brooks will earn about $10 million plus backend for writing, producing and directing. That’s about $50 million for the major talent alone.

The cost also was high because of the time Brooks devoted to production and postproduction and his decision to reshoot the beginning and end of the movie. “He’s slow and meticulous,” a person familiar with the production says. [THR]

For comparison, Watchmen cost $130 million, and the upcoming Spider-Man reboot cost $80 million.  But those don’t have Reese Witherspoon, so I guess it’s a wash. Even more amazing than the price tag is that they managed to spend 100 million dollars on this despite REESE WITHERSPOON WEARING THE SAME SHIRT FOR THE ENTIRE F*CKING MOVIE.

For some reason I feel like I haven’t heard anything about this movie before today, but here’s the trailer for James L. Brooks’ rom-com, How Do You Know, which opens in December.  It stars Reese Witherspoon as a lady both Owen Wilson and Paul Rudd seem to be in love with, and why not? She’s a total low-maintenance, down-to-Earth kinda gal, which you can tell because she’s always wearin’ a blue t-shirt.  Will she stick just her head through the collar?  Maybe her head, her shoulder, and a bra strap?  Who knows, bro, chick’s a free spirit.  Spontaneous.  That’s why all the dudes realize they love her after mistreating her for a few years.

Yes, she and Paul Rudd meet in an elevator, and Owen Wilson has hilarious conversations with his glib, chauvinist friends, but for a rom-com, there aren’t nearly as many of the usual idiotic clichés, like Sandra Bullock’s Blackberry getting stolen by an eagle, or Sarah Jessica Parker getting kicked by a cow, or Amy Adams.  If this was your usual sh*tty rom-com, Jack Nicholson, who plays Paul Rudd’s dad, would’ve been talking about sex the whole time, and the joke would’ve been that it’s funny because he’s old.  And then Katherine Heigl would find love when she finally stopped being an insufferable bitch.

Here’s a fun video that re-imagines one of AFI’s all-time-greatest-films countdowns if Anchorman had been number one.  Sandwiched between that kind of ridiculous praise, pretty much anything would be funny. I would’ve gone with the pee-drinking monkey. …But Anchorman is funny too. I guess. [via Fark]

OTHER HEADLINES:

Coming soon: Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick. Paramount has acquired the rights to the soon-to-be-published young adult novel named above with a plan to develop a film with Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage (Gossip Girls, The OC).

“The protagonist is a high school kid whose parents take in an Eastern European exchange student. Though she seems homely and ordinary at first, he realizes he misjudged her. After they leave the prom at her suggestion to go clubbing in New York City, she reveals herself to be a beautiful assassin after five targets.  He is pressed to help and has to figure out if her motives are righteous.”

Said a producer, “Imagine Wanted… in high school!”
“And…?”
“…No, that’s pretty much it.”  [Deadline]

Jon Landis’ son planning the Blair Witch of superhero movies. Fox is negotiating to pick up Chronicle, a spec script from Max Landis. It’s reportedly a hand-held, first-person, Blair Witch-style movie about three Portland teenagers who are exposed to a mysterious substance in the woods and develop special powers.  Eventually they turn against each other.  When I was a teenager, that substance was called “alcohol.”  I’m not sure combining two lame ideas adds up to one good one, but at least they’re buying a whole script and not a “pitch.” Or a “board game.”  Or a “gum wrapper.”  Yes, the bar has been lowered.  [THR-HeatVision]

Reese Witherspoon doing another boring musician biopic. Witherspoon is said to be the driving force behind a proposed biopic of singer Peggy Lee, with Nora Ephron (Bewitched, Julie & Julia) attached to direct.  Upon hearing this news, my pet Orangutan just scratched his ass and smelled his finger.  My thoughts exactly, buddy. [Variety]

Nic Cage’s Drive Angry has a trailer

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