DIRECTOR PHILLIPS BLASTS WARNERS OVER “UNRATED” HANGOVER

Director Todd Phillips has accused Warner Bros. of disregarding its creative rights agreement with the Directors Guild of America when it added seven minutes to the DVD of The Hangover without his consent. “That’s something I have to take up with the DGA,” Phillips told Movieline writer Elvis Mitchell Friday during an onstage interview at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival in Austin, TX. “Warner Bros., they’ll make your movie; your movie does well, and they want to create an unrated version, which is entirely against DGA rules because it’s not your cut,” he said. “And they can’t call it the ‘Director’s Cut’ — they’ll call it ‘Unrated’ or some ridiculous term. Really all it is is about seven minutes of footage that you cut out of the movie for a reason.” He indicated that he was particularly appalled that the “unrated” version ended up also on HBO. Phillips maintained that he will make certain that Warner Bros. does not repeat the tactic with the just-completed Hangover 2.