A scene in which Christoph Waltz’s character Rom kisses Alexander Skarsgard in The Legend of Tarzan was removed from the final film for being “too clever”, according to director David Yates. Speaking to The Times Yates explained that test audiences were left “perplexed” by the kiss, which happened when Tarzan was unconscious.

The Legend of Tarzan castThe Legend of Tarzan originally featured a kiss between Alexander Skarsgard and Christoph Waltz.

Yates explained that as part of the film’s effort not to “fall into the trap of what Tarzan represented to some people”, the original cut included a scene where Belgian soldier Rom (played by Christoph Waltz) kisses Tarzan.

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The scene happens shortly before Rom tells Jane (played by Margot Robbie) that her husband’s wildness “disturbs me more than I can even express”. “We pared it back because it was almost too much,” Yates explained.

“It was this really odd, odd moment when Christoph kisses him. We loved it at the time. But early test audiences were perplexed by it and in the end it just felt too clever and overworked.” The film also had some of the more racy sex scenes between Skarsgard and Robbie edited out.

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The ‘primal’ sex scenes between Tarzan and Jane, which caused Skarsgard injury on set, where also tamed for the final cut. "I liked the idea that they could have great sex, and that it could get quite primal," Yates said. "The cut we ended up with was more muted, and more sensual instead, even though we did touch upon those primal desires."