FILMS POSTPONED IN THE AFTERMATH OF WORLD TRADE CENTER ATTACKS

October 8, 2001Oct 8, 2001, 11:00 PM GMT+1

Four weeks after the attacks on the World Trade Center, the aftershocks are still being felt in the entertainment world, with Hollywood holding up the release of several films as they are examined for potentially upsetting or offensive references.

Martin Scorsese’s upcoming movie, Gangs Of New York, was due to be released just four days before Christmas in order to tap into one of the most profitable periods of the year, but has now been held back until spring 2002. Studio Miramax plans to release Meg Ryan’s upcoming romantic vehicle, Kate And Leopold, in its place.

Explaining his decision to delay the epic film, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz and Daniel Day Lewis. Miramax head Harvey Weinstein said in a statement; “Our decision is based on its setting in downtown Manhattan during the Civil War in the midst of the 1860s draft riots – one of the most difficult and challenging times in American history. In light of the ever-changing current events," continued the statement, "we have chosen to err on the side of sensitivity and postpone the wide release of the film until 2002,”

If Gangs Of New York is not released by the December 31 deadline, then it will forfeit any Oscar nominations. Scorsese, who is reportedly going to edit over 30 minutes from its current running-time in a bid to make it more cinema-friendly, is hoping for a limited run in New York and Los Angeles, so that it can be included in the competition, and possibly net the cinematographer his first Academy Award.

Scorsese’s long-awaited film is not the only casualty. Ben Affleck’s latest flick, an adaptation of Tom Clancy’s The Sum Of All Fears, in which he takes over the role of Jack Ryan previously inhabited by Harrison Ford, has been shelved indefinitely. Whether it will be rescheduled has yet to be decided, although studio Paramount has denied reports on a movie website that the Montreal Film Commissioner had said that the movie “would never see the light of day.” The central plot of The Sum Of All Fears is about a group of terrorists who plan to blow up the Super Bowl with a nuclear bomb.

Gangs Of New York, starring Daniel Day Lewis and Leonardo DiCaprio, will not be seen in US movie theatres until next spring, putting its Oscar eligibility under threat

The Sum Of All Fears is based on a Tom Clancy thriller in which terrorists plot to blow up the Super Bowl with a nuclear bomb, and reports say that the film may never see the light of day

Although Nic Cage and President Bush attended a ceremony in Washington to honour the real-life heroes of Nic's new movie Windtalkers, the film's release has been pushed back to next summer

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