Rebel Moon star says violence in R-rated cut ‘might surprise people’

Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire star Ed Skrein has teased that the forthcoming Zack Snyder cut of the film is “hardcore”, and that its R-rated content will likely surprise viewers.

Snyder’s latest action-fantasy movie, which was recently released on Netflix, follows a colony on the edge of the galaxy that dispatches a mysterious young woman (Sofia Boutella) to track down warriors from neighbouring planets to help them fight armies of the tyrannical Regent Balisarius (Fra Fee).

The PG-13 version currently available to stream was made suitable for younger viewers. And while that version “is a really strong piece”, Skrein told The Hollywood Reporter in a new interview, “the shadow of the Snyder Cut looms large”.

“The R-rated version, the Snyder cut, ‘the extended cut’, as we’re supposed to call it, has the potential to be something seminal for the older generation,” the British actor said.

“Knowing what we shot for the R-rated version, Zack and Netflix did an incredible job of putting together the PG-13 version. So it was always an interesting proposition to see what they did with the PG-13 cut, and I was really pleased.”

Skrein continued: “You’re going to see something f***ing new in that R-rated cut, and we’ve never seen anything like it. We’ve seen Lars von Trier push cinema to the edges. We’ve seen Saw and Hostile and all those kinds of movies push violence quite far for a commercial entity, and of course, we’ve seen what we did with Deadpool. That film pushed the superhero genre to another place, but there was still comedy involved in that.

“But this s*** is not funny,” he said of the director’s Rebel Moon cut, which will be made available on Netflix eventually. “This is f***ed-up empires in space and evil human nature evolving and playing out on an intergalactic level. It’s hardcore.”

Asked if he had knowingly filmed PG-13 takes and R-rated takes, Skrein responded: “No, but some scenes by nature lent themselves to the R-rated cut. There are some scenes that are not in the movie, and while we were doing it, I could have told you that they weren’t going to be in it.

“It was like, ‘How could you cut this scene for a 12-year-old?’ There are other scenes where it doesn’t matter and it doesn’t change whatsoever. But then there’s other scenes, like Noble’s bedchamber. I’m so messed up, because I remember that it was numbered as scene 31,” he added.

“When I shot that scene, I pushed it quite far in some of the takes, but they cut around it in this one. So, in the extended cut, it’ll feel different, but it was all the same takes, although I swore like a sailor in certain takes. Zack would then say, ‘Okay, now let’s get one without swearing, just so we’re safe for the PG-13.’”

Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire is available to stream on Netflix now. It is the first chapter of a two-part franchise, which will conclude on 19 April 2024.