I came across an interesting story at the New York Times website (registration required). It seems that the pay cable station Showtime has canceled the episode "Imprint", directed by Japanese director Takashi Miike.
It would seem that Miike's extreme filmmaking has proven to be a bit much for the network. They will be replacing it with a collaboration between Clive Barker and John McNaughton entitled "Haeckel's Tale".
The Masters of Horror project began as a bi-monthly gathering of horror directors, they would get together for dinners and to talk about film. They decided that they would create an anthology series. With the backing of IDT Entertainment, they would each craft a one hour long, self contained film. These films would be free from outside influence, they would be given free reign as to what they wanted to do. These 13 films became the Masters of Horror series which debuted on Showtime back in October. A few of the directors involved are Don Coscarelli, Lucky McKee, John Carpenter, John Landis, Joe Dante, Stuart Gordon, Tobe Hooper, and Mick Garris.
Takashi Miike's tale, "Imprint", is based on the novel Bokkee Kyoutee by Shimako Iwai. It tells the story of an American journalist who returns to Japan to find a love left behind, and ends up dredging up a past better left covered.
Rather than compromise Miike-san's vision, the episode will not be edited or censored to meet any desires of Showtime's executives. It should be said that, at this point, Showtime has not requested any cuts or changes in order to air it. The episode has been announced as making its debut on DVD, along with the rest of the series next Fall.
This turn of events has made me very eager to see the show. Granted, I don't even have Showtime, and have only seen one episode of the series, when I was able to get a sneak peek at Don Coscarelli's episode, "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road." I don't want to wait for the DVD!
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Article comments
1 - Dave Nalle
I have to be skeptical about the Miike episode being axed because of either violence or 'intensity'. Episodes they've already aired are either more violent or more intense than Miike's other work. My guess would be that they axed it for pure incomprehensibility. Miike's films are notorious for not making a great deal of sense, especially for western audiences who don't have the necessary cultural background for some of his references.
If you've only seen the first installment in the series, the rather pedestrian "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road", then you haven't seen how intense the material the Showtime censors are willing to let pass is. To be more violent the Miike film would have to be literally wall to wall torture and the only thing I can think of that would be more troubling from a sexual standpoint would be pedophilia.
Dave
2 - Sterfish
Ichi The Killer has aired on Showtime's channels before and Audition has aired on Sundance Channel. However, in the case of Ichi The Killer, only the truncated R-rated version has been shown.
The fact is that premium channels like Showtime, HBO, and Starz do actually have limits. However, those limits are pretty much the outer limits for most people...ultra-extreme violence and hardcore sex. The only form of television that seems to be truly without limits is pay-per-view.
That being said, I wonder if the people behind the show could have somehow orchestrated this to encourage DVD sales. Given that Miike isn't as well-known a name to Western audiences as some of the other directors for that series (and the fact that Anchor Bay is releasing the show with only one episode per DVD), it seems to make sense to market it as a "lost" or "forbidden" episode to entice people who may not have bought the DVD based on Miike's name alone.