Johansson's directorial debut rejected

A segment of film directed by Scarlett Johansson has been cut from a new film about New York.

Entitled New York, I Love You, the project features a number of different love stories shot by different directors, including Natalie Portman and Brett Ratner.

It has emerged that Johansson's section, starring Kevin Bacon, has been edited out of the final cut of the film, with one source describing it as "really bad" and another as "unwatchable", the New York Post reports.

However, producer Emmanuel Benbihy denied that the alleged poor quality of the segment was the reason for its non-inclusion, and said that he was "very much moved" by the star's "extremely compelling, albeit unconventional, narrative".

Benbihy said: "The story did not specifically involve an interpersonal relationship, and it was conceptualised to be filmed in black and white - both of which were extreme departures from the other films.

"I had to admit that there were editorial decisions to be made in the interest of serving the overall narrative and composition that resulted in previously filmed scenes and footage not getting used."

Johansson's section will be included on the DVD release of New York, I Love You together with Andrei Zvyagintsev's segment starring Carla Gugino and Goran Visnjic, which was also edited out of the theatrical version.