Interview: Frank Oz, director of Little Shop of Horrors (1986)

We recently spoke with filmmaker Frank Oz about the Blu-ray release of the director’s cut of his 1986 musical comedy Little Shop of Horrors (Warner, Blu-ray $34.99), based on the 1982 Off-Broadway smash of the same name by composer Alan Menken and the late writer Howard Ashman, which was itself based on a 1960 low-budget, non-musical cult film of the same name directed by Roger Corman (Sharktopus). All three versions revolve around a nerdy florist shop worker named Seymour (Rick Moranis in Oz’s film) who raises a vicious, raunchy plant that feeds on human blood.

The big news about the Little Shop’s Blu-ray premiere is the disc doesn’t just feature the theatrical version of the film, but also Oz’s Director’s Cut, which offers the film’s original ending. The original ending, which was similar to that of the Off-Broadway show, was excised and replaced with a happier and completely different ending it received a poor reception during audience previews.

Disc Dish: What are your overall feelings about the original ending as it was written for the original Off-Broadway show by Howard Ashman?

Frank Oz: There is a sense of closure as Howard wrote it because it’s a Faustian legend. So, as it is in the original ending, he kills people and then, as a result, he pays the price. But in the happy ending as it appears in the theatrical version, he kills people and he gets the girl. The way Howard wrote it and the way we both wanted it for the film, there was more a sense of closure.

DD: Some years back, when the first DVD pressing containing the original ending as a deleted scene were recalled, they went for hundred of dollars on internet auction sites. How does it feel to you that the original ending was in such high demand?

FO: It’s strange. Every time I’ve done interviews over the years, I’ve always gotten questions about the ending. I’ve done a lot of Q&A’s and I always get that. I just don’t know. I’m pleased, but I truly don’t know. I wish I had a better answer for you!

DD: How do you think audiences that aren’t familiar with the original ending are going to feel about it?

FO: I can’t say how it’s going to go over with the audience because, well, a good percentage of the audience loves the happy ending. But, again, the original ending does offer the sense of closure that Howard intended. I think the happy ending is weird, but I think Howard would be happy to see the Faustian legend fulfilled with the original ending back, right next to the happy ending. So, people can see the happy version and it will make them happy. Then, they can go back and watch the better one and it will offer them better closure.

DD: Can you tell us a little about the day that you realized the original ending didn’t work for the film?

Rick Moranis and Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors

FO: The ending had to be changed, it just had to—the film just wasn’t releasable as it was. At the first preview in San Jose, with the original ending, we needed a 55% “recommend” on the preview cards [filled out by the audience] to have the movie go forward. Less than 55% is not good. We got just 13%. 13%. And that was after they applauded after every musical number!

DD: And then?

FO: I was in the Warner’s jet with [former Warner execs] Terry Semel and Bob Daly and [producer] David Geffen. We were all excited about the screening, though we knew the audience had lost some enthusiasm towards the end, and then we saw the cards. Oh boy. I thought they were going to send us back to L.A. in a Greyhound. I remember David looking at the cards and saying, ‘It’s a disaster, a disaster.’ We all decided that when the company asks us how it was, we were going to tell them, ‘It just needs a little work.’ But Howard and I knew what we had to do: We had to cut that ending and make it a happy ending, or a satisfying ending

DD: And so it came to be…

FO: What Warner needed was for Seymour to be a hero. I thought it was bogus, but we had very little choice at that point. Again, we had to realize that we were making Little Shop of Horrors for millions of people, not just for ourselves.