American X pulled from Toronto festival

August 11, 1998

There's at least one movie that won't be competing at this year's Toronto Film Festival.

 According to Variety, New Line Cinema has withdrawn its white supremacist drama, 'American History X', after repeated disputes with the film's director Tony Kaye.

 The dispute stems from Kaye's insistence on re-cutting the film to "radically re-invent" it, a process that would take eight weeks. According to New Line Productions president Michael De Luca, the studio ceded the time, yet Kaye failed to produce anything.

 "I believe that he's genuinely wedded to his new vision," De Luca said. "But we don't have a version of his to consider. There is no 'Tony Kaye cut.' We had no idea what he would show in Toronto."

 Despite Kaye's insistence on re-editing the film, New Line believes that it and Kaye's existing cut, completed in early June, is critically viable and De Luca said the studio sees this as a "worthy, prestige film."

 The film stars Edward Norton, Edward Furlong and Fairuza Balk, and was written by David McKenna. The studio original release date of October 16 has been pushed back to November 6. The film will be distributed in Canada by Alliance Releasing.