13 controversial book scenes that didn’t make it into the movie

Usually, books cannot be made into a one-to-one movie and scenes have to be removed or changed. For example, Forrest Gump smokes weed in the book – a scene that was completely omitted from the movie. Here are 13 controversial or even violent storylines that didn’t make it to the movies.

In the book, which predates the movie by eight years, Forrest smokes weed, flies into space with an orangutan, and crash-lands in Papua New Guinea, where he learns to play chess. He also becomes a professional wrestler named “The Dunce”, playing the harmonica in a band with Jenny, and is arrested for throwing away his war medal. None of these things were shown in the movie.

In Fitzgerald’s classic, Gatsby’s father appears at his funeral – only Nick is present in the film. The scene in the book gives a glimpse of who Gatsby really was. Not the legendary Gatsby, but a simple man who wanted to get more out of life.

Hermione forms the League for Elvish Rights in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire when she learns the conditions under which the house-elves work at Hogwarts, but most of the house-elves find this offensive. That whole storyline didn’t make it to the movies.

In both the Hunger Games book and movie, Peeta injures his leg. In the movie, his injury is healing, but in the book, his leg has to be amputated. The Capitol sends a prosthetic, which then plays a part in the sequel “Catching Fire”. The movie also cut out an entire scene suggesting that the Capitol uses the corpses of children to create its terrifying mutant dogs.

(Warning: spoilers for the ending of the movie or book!)

In “My Sister’s Life”, Anna is supposed to donate her kidney so that her sister can survive. In the film, Anna takes her parents to court so she can make her own decisions about her body in the future. As a result, Anna survives in the film and Kate dies. In the book, Anna dies in a car accident and Kate survives by getting Anna’s kidney.

In the movie “A Clockwork Orange”, Alex has consensual sex with two women. This scene has not been cut, but has been modified so that it is no longer problematic. Because in Anthony Burgess’s book, the women are ten-year-old girls who play truant.

A scene from the “Jurassic Park” book that didn’t make it to the movie takes place right at the beginning: Costa Rica is haunted by a series of mysterious lizard attacks. These are dinosaurs that escaped from Jurassic Park. A modified version appeared in «The Lost World – Jurassic Park». In one scene, a nurse walks into a child’s room and sees three small dinosaurs attacking and mauling a child.

The book Starwalker, written by Neil Gaiman, is more violent than the movie adaptation of the same name. In both versions, a unicorn dies – in the film, death comes quickly from a magical burst of flame. However, in the book, the witch queen stabs the unicorn with a dagger in the eye and brain after the unicorn impales the witch with its horn. The witch then decapitates the unicorn, spits into the dead animal’s mouth, and turns the lifeless body into a zombie.

In “Me Before You,” Emilia Clarke plays the lively and cheerful Louisa, who likes to wear colorful clothes. Anyone who has read the book knows there is more to it. She was sexually assaulted while at school – something she keeps top secret. In the book, this incident is a pivotal plot point, used to explain Louisa’s character and dress style. In the film, this is completely omitted.

The documentary Blackfish came out after John Green published the book “Steps in Margo”, but before the movie came out. This shows how killer whales are treated in captivity. As a result, the scene where Margo breaks into SeaWorld was cut from the film. “I think going to SeaWorld is a little less fun now,” producer Wyck Godfrey told The Hollywood Reporter.

In Carlo Collodi’s book, Pinocchio kills the nameless cricket: «Perhaps he wanted to miss; but the hammer flew straight at the beast’s head. – Lispel Cricket just squealed: kri-kri-kri, then he got out of breath and stuck to the wall like a smitten fly.” In the movies, the cricket is called Jiminy and is alive.

In this apocalypse book, a baby is roasted over a fire. The scene was filmed but did not make it to the final cut.

(cmu)