Exploring Brian Helgeland’s “Payback,” a Tale of Two Movies

Over at Film School Rejects, Jack Giroux weighs in on which version of Payback is the best in his piece: Exploring Brian Helgeland’s Payback, a Tale of Two Movies.

Award-winning screenwriter and director Brian Helgeland was fired from the production of the Mel Gibson starrer Payback when the studio and Gibson felt Helgeland’s version was too dark.  Gibson ended up directing the re-shoots and it was his version that was released to theaters.  Years later Helgeland’s movie was released on dvd.

I’ve got both versions in my collection, so it should be clear that I dig both takes on the film.  If I had to choose one, I’d go for the theatrical release [by a hair] but thankfully, since both versions rest in my collection, that isn’t a choice I’ll ever have to make.