While it might not be the role he was born to play, Gérard Depardieu‘s portrayal of Dominique Strauss-Kahn (or rather, for legal reasons, a character "inspired" by the disgraced Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund), is the role that’s perfect for him right now. He’s got the look, the attitude, and party hard boozy credentials and he goes full throttle in Abel Ferrara‘s "Welcome To New York." A new, U.S. trailer is here, but be forewarned, the movie has been cut from the international version.
As you might recall, last fall Ferrara revealed that IFC Films was pressuring him to cut down the film, and he was not happy about it. “F— them and F— IFC and the Center. Any filmmaker that’s worth anything should go and burn that theater down," the director said at the time. "And as for my brother and sister filmmakers, don’t roll over to these punks. And don’t let Arianna Bocco and [Sundance Selects/IFC Films president] Jonathan Sehring and the other thousand just like them come on as big friends of the independent film community. They don’t give a shit about movies or the people that make them." But unfortunately, it looks like Ferrara lost the battle.
While "Welcome To New York" screened at film festivals around the world in its original runtime of 125 minutes (which we reviewed at Fantasia), the official press release from IFC for this trailer notes a significantly shorter runtime of 108 minutes. It’s shame because while the longer version certainly isn’t perfect, it’s also a picture we called, "an otherwise fascinating depiction of another kind of ‘Wolf of Wall Street,’ one whose endless hunger is only matched by his vile soullessness."
"Welcome To New York" opens on VOD and in cinemas on March 27th. Watch below.
