Airlines have long edited films for consumption aboard their aircraft (though they’re starting to show more movies uncut). But British Airways takes the cake in their latest editorial slice-and-dice of a movie: They’ve taken the latest James Bond film, Casino Royale, and edited it. Not to cut down the violence, but to delete a cameo by Richard Branson.
Why? Because Branson runs Virgin Atlantic, their competitor.
That’s amazingly petty. Poor sportsmanship. And just plain pathetic.
Branson does a brief cameo as a passenger who’s given the once-over by airport security. (A still from the film is above.) He requested the walk-on after providing the filmmakers a plane to use as a prop. In lieu of monetary compensation for the aircraft rental, he got to be in the picture. It’s good to be the king.
So if you’re flying on British Airways, and you’d like the full version of the (excellent) Casino Royale, you’ll have to buy the DVD
(Separately, if you’ve never seen the original version
(Thanks to reader R.Y.!)
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April 29th, 2007 at 6:35 am
[...] the newest budget airline British Airways battles Virgin Atlantic by editing Richard Branson out of inflight movies A New Airline Seat [...]