Most director’s cuts feature added scenes to the original movie. Valencia writer-director Allen Wolf actually cut scenes out of his 2010 film, “In My Sleep,” making it “leaner and meaner,” the filmmaker said, all while ratcheting up the suspense in his thriller about a guy who discovers he may have murdered a good friend while sleepwalking.  Wolf, who believes art is never finished — only abandoned — really wanted to tighten up his story. He also had a strong desire to take out or change things he wasn’t happy with, and to modernize all the old phones, old web browsers and other “period” elements in the film so an audience could see it today and think it was made recently.  “I wasn’t ready to abandon it yet,” Wolf said in an interview. “I just felt like it was a story that still has resonance today. The deeper story is about someone who feels like their life is out of control and they don’t know how to stop it. Things are happening while this guy is sleeping. I feel like so much of life now feels that way, where things just feel out of our control.”  About four years ago, Wolf took his original version of “In My Sleep” out of distribution and began reworking it. He wasn’t doing it as a “money grab,” as some say, but rather he was doing it purely from a filmmaking standpoint, he said, to better the overall film.   “In My Sleep” is now streaming on Amazon Prime. Valencia writer-director Allen Wolf revisited his 2010 film and just released his director’s cut, which he said is much leaner and meaner. Photo courtesy of Morning Star Pictures. He began cutting scenes out, recutting others, he shot new scenes, many of which were inserts of new cellphones, computer screens and such, and he even tinkered with the look of the film, removing picture grain and recomposing shots.   “I changed the aspect ratio,” he said. “So, it went from 16:9, which is what you typically see on a TV screen, to 2.35, which is widescreen. Every shot I had to reframe. The effect is: It tightens the framing and it gives it a more claustrophobic feel. That also intensifies the experience.”  Wolf’s director’s cut premiered last month at two film festivals — the Silicon Beach Film Festival at the TCL Chinese 6 Theatres in Hollywood, and NoHo Cinefest at LOOK Dine-In Cinemas in Glendale.  “It was super fun to see it on a big screen with a crowd,” Wolf said, adding that hearing the audience in real time respond to the movie and jump out of their seats, and then to hear their feedback afterward, made the whole process worth it.  “People told me that, during the movie, they were constantly trying to figure out what happens with all the twists and turns,” Wolf said. “No one was able to figure it out before the end.”  The 2010 version of “In My Sleep” was 1 hour and 44 minutes long. The director’s cut comes in at 1 hour and 38 minutes. It stars Philip Winchester, Lacey Chabert and Abigail Spencer.   According to Winchester, he hadn’t seen the film in what he called “ages.” He was happily surprised with the new version.   “This feels more modern and in line with what Allen’s vision always was,” Winchester wrote in an email. “I thoroughly enjoyed taking that trip down memory lane and being reminded of the insanely talented cast that was brought together, the sets that were built in factories in downtown L.A. and the wildly generous crew that made it all possible. Oh, and my goodness we were young(er!).”  Wolf was born in Philadelphia but grew up in Ohio. He attended New York University’s film school, where his senior thesis film, “Harlem Grace,” won multiple festival honors and was a finalist for the Student Academy Awards. He moved to Los Angeles to pursue his career in the entertainment business. The first film he made in L.A. was 2010’s “In My Sleep.”   In 2022, Wolf wrote and directed “The Sound of Violet,” a romantic comedy-drama about someone with autism who falls in love with a prostitute, based on Wolf’s novel of the same name.  Wolf is married with two children. He and his family moved to Valencia in December 2021. The filmmaker said his next project is something he wrote for and is planning to shoot in Santa Clarita. He added that, like “In My Sleep,” it’s a thriller.  “In My Sleep” is now available on Amazon Prime Video for digital download and on-demand.  The post Valencia filmmaker offers reimagining of film he made in 2010  appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.