One Gremlins scene was so divisive, the studio asked theater projectionists to cut it during screenings
May. 21, 2024Exclusive | Director Joe Dante reveals just how concerned people were about the scene where Kate explains why she hates Christmas
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Thestory of the making of1984’sGremlinsis as fascinating at the film itself, as the team behind it broke all the rules to make a classic still very much beloved today.
One particular scene was a point of contention - the moment where Kate (Phoebe Cates) tells Billy (Zack Galligan) a tragic story about why she hates Christmas, which is linked to the death of her father. Perfectly pitched, the macabre moment is easily one of the most memorable scenes from the movie, but it almost didn’t make the cut.
Studio executives were so concerned about how it would play to audiences, they asked director Joe Dante to remove it from the film. And when he said no - being backed by producer Steven Spielberg - the studio still decided to persist, taking matters into their own hands.
As the filmmaker tellsTotal Film in our new issueout on Thursday May 23, which features Twisters on the cover, the studio went as far as sending orders out to projectionists asking them to chop it from screenings. Dante revealed during our interview, which celebrates the 40th anniversary of the movie: “[The scene] encapsulated the whole ethos of the picture. There’s a duality of humor and horror but Warner Bros. just hated it. I heard after it was out they were sending instructions to projectionists to see if they could cut it, which thankfully didn’t happen.”
All these years later, we now know that Warner Bros. really didn’t have anything to worry about with the scene, which has long remained a fan-favorite moment.
Gremlins is available to watch now via 4K, Blu-ray, DVD, VOD, and streaming. And you can read more about it and a whole lot else besides in the new issue of Total Film when it hits shelves and digital newsstands on Thursday, May 23.
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As Entertainment Editor at GamesRadar, I oversee all the online content for Total Film and SFX magazine. Previously I’ve worked for the BBC, Zavvi, UNILAD, Yahoo, Digital Spy and more.
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