We'll be posting our new episode of The Collision later today, and on the podcast we discuss the hour of Pacific Rim footage director/co-writer Guillermo del Toro cut out in order to get the character arcs down to their bare essentials.  For those like me who wanted more character stuff, a director's cut was an enticing prospect.  Unfortunately, del Toro tells Bleeding Cool that the theatrical cut is his director's cut, and that while there will be deleted scenes with commentary and an extensive making-of documentary, don't expect a bevy of extras because the "DVD and Blu-ray market is shrinking so we can’t be as extravagant as we were with other discs in the past."  If you need that sea-change to be more striking, think back to when Hellboy, which was a flop, got a three-disc director's cut.  It's particularly a shame in the case of Pacific Rim because it looks like an absolutely fascinating production deserving of a stacked home release.  However, del Toro did go on to say, "if you buy one of my movies, a toy, or a collectable from one of my movies, I try to give people a piece of merchandising or memorabilia that I would be happy to pay that price for."  I think it's time to create a "Del Toro Approved" sticker that's a picture of him smiling and giving a thumbs-up.

Hit the jump for more including del Toro talking about alternate endings, and what line he cut from the movie that could lead into a sequel.  You can also check out the opening/closing credits.

[Spoilers ahead for those who haven't seen Pacific Rim]

Del Toro tells Bleeding Cool [via The Playlist] that he cut a line from the movie mentioning that the kaiju are silicon based, but that Newt's (Charlie Day) explanation of drifting with the kaiju's hive mentality could have ramifications if a sequel gets the greenlight:

There was a line that I deleted from the movie that will come back if I do a second movie. Newt explained that the Kaiju are not carbon based organisms like humans, they are silicon based. The only part I left of his explanation is that they have a hive mentality, meaning that if you “drift” with a Kaiju brain, you are drifting with every Kaiju alive.

Depending on the duration of the drift the information might be complete or incomplete, but the Kaiju know everything the human drifts with them knows. That’s as much as I can tell you without spoiling the sequel. Well, that’s providing there is a sequel – if there isn’t one, I promise, I’ll spill the beans.

The director's openness about his movies also extended to the ending of Pacific Rim, and how there were three different cuts for the grace note between Raleigh (Charlie Hunnam) and Mako (Rinko Kikuchi).  Speaking to Badass Digest, del Toro explains:

"When I was working on the movie we had three or four different versions of the relationship between Charlie and Rinko because I wanted to see if I could make a story about two people liking each other without having to end in a kiss.  So when I shot the ending we shot three versions. I’ve never done this before, but instinctively I thought we should do three versions. We did one version where they kiss and it almost felt weird. They’re good friends, they’re pals, good colleagues."

I'm glad the movie didn't end on a kiss because that has a romantic angle the movie simply didn't earn between those two characters.  An embrace between two colleagues who have just escaped almost certain death?  That I can believe.

Finally, if you enjoyed the opening credits and closing credits to the movie, you can check them out below [via CBM]