54: The Director’s Cut
Description
At this year’s Berlin Film Festival, The Guardian was the first to recognize that a major rediscovery was afoot. “An ode to the decadence and sleaze of the glitterball era, 54 was sanitised beyond recognition before its first release,” its review trumpeted. “Now Mike Myers and Ryan Phillippe are revealed in all their hedonistic glory.” The cut of the film released in theaters in 1998 removed more than 30 minutes of beautifully acted, Cabaret-like licentiousness in the form of amibisexual polyamory and rampant drug use at the Studio 54 nightclub and replaced it with 40 minutes of cloying romance and “aw shucks” dialogue in a bid to make the film palatable for mainstream audiences. With the original footage restored, the film now is a gritty masterpiece, a classic of bored excess and existential longing, framed by sweaty abs, jeroboams of quaaludes and the pulsing beat and recreated performances of music’s most celebrated and reviled era. Phillippe is Shane, an ambitious Jersey boy who Steve Rubell (Myers) admits to his club once he throws away his nasty rayon shirt. Thus begins his ascension from busboy to bartender, from ingenue to bisexual hustler and from beer drinker to drug dealer, casting aside friends Greg (Breckin Meyer) and Anita (Salma Hayek) in the process. —Noah Cowan
In addition to 54, Mark Christopher wrote and directed Pizza (1995), a feature comedy, as well as several shorts that include The Dead Boys’ Club (1992), Alkali, Iowa (1995) and Heartland (2007). He also co-created the reality series Real Life: The Musical (2012). Regarding the history of 54 and its road to a re-release with his director’s cut, Christopher says, “The film was ahead of its time: The flawed characters, Ryan’s character, this sort of opportunistic bisexual … that was a little hard for a wide audience, and this was an 1,800-print release. It’s the simple story of a bartender, a coat-check girl (Salma Hayek), and a busboy, and their love triangle, and how they become family in a weird way. Now it’s a cliché, but I hadn’t seen that in 1998.”
Trailer
//player.vimeo.com/video/123020738?autoplay=1Film Details
Language English
Year 1998/2015
Premiere US
Runtime 106
Country USA
Director Mark Christopher
Producer Ira Deutchman, Richard N. Gladstein, Dolly Hall
Writer Mark Christopher
Editor Lee Percy
Cinematographer Alexander Gruszynski
Music Marco Beltrami
Cast Ryan Phillippe, Salma Hayek, Neve Campbell, Mike Myers