“No one has the patience for 3 hours” – Mysskin’s Bold Take on ‘Train’ Runtime!

Mysskin, one of Tamil cinema’s most unique directors, has recently completed filming ‘Train’ starring Vijay Sethupathi. At a recent event, he spoke candidly about the film’s runtime and the pressure from the producer to trim it down.

Despite wanting to bring his full creative vision to the screen, Mysskin made some key decisions based on the mindset of modern audiences. Here are the interesting details he shared:

Initial Runtime: After the first edit, the duration of ‘Train’ stood at 2 hours and 50 minutes.

Producer’s Intervention: Feeling the film was too long, the producer requested it be cut down to 2 hours and 40 minutes.

Assistant Directors’ Resistance: Mysskin’s assistant directors strongly opposed the cuts, arguing that every scene was vital. They were reportedly adamant about not shortening the film.

Ultimately, looking past the emotional pleas of his assistants, Mysskin significantly reduced the length. Regarding this, he stated:

“In this day and age, no one has the patience to sit and watch a movie for 3 hours. Therefore, accepting the producer’s request—even as my assistant directors literally held me back—I trimmed the film down to 2 hours and 25 minutes.”

Mysskin pointed out that due to the dominance of social media and ‘Reels’ culture, the audience’s attention span is decreasing. He believes a shorter, crisper duration is best for a fast-paced screenplay.

Since ‘Train’ is a crime thriller, expectations are high that Mysskin’s “crisp” editing will be a major strength for the movie.