what has been the most interesting way a film or show was altered for another nation?
I am intrigued when a Disney film for example adds a gay reference that is not relevant to the movie, so it is easy to remove when heading to China or something.
What was the most interesting thing you have seen done to a movie or show to appease foreign governments?
In Skyfall, Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, scenes depicting James Bond defeating men of Chinese origin have been cut - any suggestion that the Chinese people are weak or easily defeated, even by a world class assassin, mean that the government won't approve it.
No idea. There's less stories of these sort of shenanigans nowadays, simply because the studios found it increasingly harder to predict what the censors would allow at any given moment.
I know the US market version of Leon - The Professional - is very much a different film due to the way it's cut. A lot of the interplay between Leon and Mathilda is cut (including her participating in hits with him and some of the more... direct developments in their relationship).
This wasn't done due to government meddling, but due to furious test audiences and to get a lower age rating for the film. The international version is worth a watch, the US one is just OK.
I quite liked Sicario, and saw a trailer for a sequel in Vietnam. It looked great with plenty of action, and was advertised as such on the cinema's (CGV) website too.
I bought my ticket, went to the cinema just after it came out, and sat down. The movie got to a scene where action was about to happen, then suddenly all of the guys were dead on the floor. Odd, I thought. Other similar things happened... I realised I hadn't seen any bullets flying about, just aftermaths. Turns out all the action had been cut by the censors... out of an action movie. The cinema said it wasn't their problem, which is weird, as their website said it was an action movie, yet they had removed all the action.
You mention removing scenes for the Chinese market but I've read many movies have extended scenes added when shown in China featuring Chinese actors added to Hollywood movies. I believe one of the Transformers movies had this.
Nope, I think there was a Iron Man movie where theres some Chinese doctors treating Tony Stark and discusses the moral implications of modified human (If I recall correctly).