“Pearl Harbor” reedited to satisfy Japanese?

Disney has reedited Pearl Harbor for its Japanese and German releases in order not to offend America’s World War II enemies, the British tabloid The Sun said Tuesday. The newspaper quoted a source at the studio as saying that a closing speech by British actress Kate Beckinsale has been cut for the Japanese version. “They are a huge market and accounted for 20 per cent of profits for Titanic,” the source said. “The film barely refers to the Germans but we have cut the speech for them, too. It won’t make a big difference, most people know who won the war.” Tuesday’s Los Angeles Times also reported that producer Jerry Bruckheimer provided a script of the movie to John Tateishi of the Japanese American Citizens League before shooting began and made changes to it that Tataishi recommended. Bruckheimer told the newspaper: “[Tateishi] had very legitimate concerns and we wanted to honor them. … If we feel suggestions don’t hurt us artistically, then we try to make changes.”