"The Legend of Tarzan" director David Yates revealed that there was a scene featuring a kiss between Belgian soldier Leon Rom (Christoph Waltz) and John Clayton/Tarzan (Alexander Skarsgard) that was edited out. The revelation came after "Star Trek Beyond" character Sulu (John Cho) was outed as gay.
In an interview with The Times, Yates explained that the gay kiss was cut because "test audiences were perplexed by it." He said the kiss was filmed as part of an effort not to fall into the trap of what the title character represented to some people.
In the deleted scene, Tarzan is unconscious. Rom finds himself attracted to the "wildness" of Skarsgard's character and kisses him.
Yates revealed that they loved the scene upon filming it. However, they eventually removed it from the final version of the film because it was "almost too much" and it just felt "too clever and overworked" in the end considering the perplexity early test audiences had, the director pointed out.
Released on July 1, "The Legend of Tarzan" was written by Adam Cozad and Craig Brewer. Skarsgard and Waltz's co-stars are Margot Robbie as Robbie, Samuel L. Jackson as George Washington Williams, Djimon Hounsou as Chief Mbonga, Sidney Ralitsoele as Wasimbu, Osy Okhile as Kwete, Mens-Sana Tamakloe as Kolo, Antony Acheampong as Kanam, Edward Apeagyei as Kimanga, Ashley Byam as Kasai and Casper Crump as Major Kerckhover, among others.
Rory J. Saper and Christian Stevens play young Tarzan. The former played the 18-year-old version of Skarsgard's character while the latter played the five-year-old one.
In a recent interview with Manila Bulletin, Skarsgard revealed that he wanted to increase a bit in volume for his role in "The Legend of Tarzan." On the other hand, he said he did not want Tarzan to look like a bodybuilder in the jungle.
"It's Lord Greystoke and not Tarzan that you meet first but when he's back in his natural habitat, it was important that it felt just like that, his natural habitat," the "True Blood" alum told the publication. He added that Tarzan has to be very athletic, flexible and nimble when he moves through the jungle.
Watch Skarsgard's recent interview with Conan O'Brien here: