With 2024 marking the 25th anniversary ofDeep Blue Sea, it’s no surprise that some fans of the 1999 shark movie want the film’s original ending to be released.
Deep Blue Seais an action film that was directed byRenny Harlinand starred Saffron Burrows,Thomas Jane, Samuel L. Jackson, Jacqueline McKenzie, Michael Rapaport, Stellan Skarsgård, and LL Cool J. The film followed a group of scientists experimenting on DNA-altered sharks in an attempt to find a cure for Alzheimer’s.
Currently, there is a petition onChange.orgletting Warner Bros. know that fans are interested in seeing the original ending toDeep Blue Sea.
The petition reads, “For 20 years,Deep Blue Sea has been recalled as one of the best shark filmsever made. But, ever since I’ve heard about how test audiences didn’t like the original ending, and preferred something different, one of the movie’s moral plot points has been tanked underwater by this decision.”
The petition explains, “The character of the film, Dr. Susan McAlester (Saffron Burrows) was recalled as a villain for her actions throughout the film, but it was already addressed in the film’s deleted scenes (and the film itself) that she wasn’t suppose to be. She regretted her decisions, and felt terrible after what she caused. And, for her to be the one who kills the shark at the end of the film made more sense to have her character arc completely resolved, and redeemed, other than having her die off for audience pleasure.”
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The Bulk of the Petition’s Signatures Have Come In Recent Months
The petition was first started by Quincy Henderson back in 2019, but the bulk of signatures have come in recent months after the petition started gaining more attention online. With a current goal of 1,000 signatures, the petition currently sits at over 700 signatures with more than 100 people having already signed today.
Recently, one of the film’s stars, Jane (who played Carter Blake), promoted the petition onInstagram. Along with animage of Burrows inDeep Blue Sea, Thomas Jane wrote, “So I heard that when #deepbluesea had its #20thanniversary a petition got started to get the original ending released. Its pretty different to the ending shown in the cut that was distributed.”
Including a link to the petition, Jane added, “Didn’t get much traction, it seems, but it could be kinda fun to see if the fans can get [Warner Bros.'] attention.”
Harlin, who’s known for directing films likeA Nightmare in Elm Street 4: The Dream Master,Die Hard 2, andThe Long Kiss Goodnightalso made a financial contribution to the help promote the cause.
Previously, during an interview back in 2013 (viaCBR), Harlin revealed how test audiences reacted to the original ending. He said, “At the test screening —the audience was really with the movie and when Sam Jackson gets eaten, the audience was screaming and laughing and we thought, okay, it’s a home run. When it came to the last seven minutes of th film, all of a sudden it just fell flat like a pancake and people kind of hated it. We were like, what the hell happened?”
Harlin continued, “Basically what had happened was that the audience felt so deeply that the scientist character, the woman who was behind the whole experiment with the sharks, that it was all her fault. In their minds, she was the bad buy and in our minds, she was the heroine and we thought saving her was the key. Basically, we had test cards that said, ‘Kill the b****.'”
As a result, Harlin decided that Dr. Susan McAlester could simply be eaten by sharks after she falls into the water.
The director said, “We did a one-day reshoot at Universal Studios’ tank and it was a really simple shoot we did in order to change the ending of it. We did some CG work on the sharks and stuff like that, but it was a super fast fix.”
