Damien Chazelle's "Babylon" takes audiences on a lengthy trip through 1920s Hollywood as the industry tries to transition from silent movies into sound pictures, complete with wild parties filled with chaos and debauchery.
The opening sequence, set to a pounding score from Academy Award-winning composer Justin Hurwitz, sets the tone for other unhinged parties throughout the film. But there was one raunchy scene that didn't make the cut, Jean Smart told Insider.
Smart, who plays critic Elinor St. John in the film, told Insider that during the party at Jack Conrad's (Brad Pitt) house, she didn't realize that she was actually surrounded by "young naked men."
"There was actually one short scene that ended up being cut," she said. "We did a party scene where I didn't even realize during the entire scene, I'm sitting there at Jack's pool party and there were four young naked men behind me throwing a football around and I didn't even know they were there."
The "Watchmen" and "Hacks" star joked that her character later interacted with the men and was in "hog heaven."
"But then when they all decide to go to the desert to watch Margot fight a snake, you see me squished in the back seat of a car with all four of them," she added. "And they're all shirtless and drunk and I'm just in hog heaven."
Smart said she was "disappointed that one ended up on the editing room floor," but went on to say that she was so grateful that they kept her favorite scene in the movie where Elinor has a brutally honest conversation with Pitt's character about his career.
"Actors are fond of noting that it's always the scene that's the reason they took the part that ends up getting cut, or ends up getting edited to death," Smart told Insider. "And I thought, 'Oh this is too long, there's no way it's not gonna get edited down.' But it wasn't, and it just so perfectly encapsulated the entire film."
"Babylon" is in theaters from December 23, 2022, in the United States, and January 20, 2023, in the UK. You can watch the trailer below.
