 A "director's cut" version by Cammell's wife and co-screenwriter China Kong, and his editor and sometime producer Frank Mazzola, was released in 2000 and was noted by critics.The film is known for its graphic lesbian love scenes between stars Joan Chen and Anne Heche.The scenes proved controversial to the point that after "Wild Side"'s initial airings on HBO, the network subsequently chose to air a version of the film with those portions deleted.