John Clayton III, Lord Greystoke, (aka Tarzan played by Alexander Skarsgard) begins out in London many years after leaving the African jungle behind but is set to return to serve as a trade emissary to Congo on behalf of British Parliament.

He's married to Jane (Australian actress Margot Robbie), who is there to play his main love interest, however things spice up with the introduction of the villain, Belgian Captain Leon Rom (Christoph Waltz), whose feelings and behaviour towards Tarzan are meant to have homoerotic undertones.

But Yates realised a purposefully odd moment between Captain Rom and Tarzan, in which the soldier kisses the shirtless wildman whilst unconscious and later turns to Jane, saying "Your husband's wildness disturbs me more than I can even express", just did not work as a scene.

The director told the Times he wasn't too sure how audiences would react: "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."

Even the editing department found some of the scenes between Jane and Tarzan exposed a bit too much wild action and was either toned down or axed, according to Yates.

Times are rough for gay love on-screen if we're getting hopeful that a mustache-twirling villain is going to kiss unconscious Tarzan— BringBackLookingHBO (@looking4evah) July 11, 2016

I'm going to see Tarzan with my mom and apparently a kiss scene was cut wth where's the fun ?— Sarah Quiet (@JokingTroye) July 10, 2016

Skarsgard told the Mirror: "There's a love scene where John and Jane return to the jungle and reconnect with the Kuba village.

"Our director, David Yates, wanted it to be primal. He kept egging Margot on, saying, 'Hit him, scratch him, beat him'.

"I wasn't severely injured but it was probably the scene in which I got the most bruises and scratches."

But Yates explained to the Times that "the cut we ended up with was more muted, and more sensual instead, even though we did touch upon those primal desires."

This could explain why Fairfax Media film critic, Jake Wilson, felt there was chemistry missing between the lovers.

"He's practically Tarzan as Hamlet: there's no exuberance in the performance, even when he's back in the jungle swinging from tree to tree. He doesn't even seem to get much of a thrill from being married to Margot Robbie," Wilson wrote.

Even Robbie described the film to Fairfax Media as "a massive love story", helped by a guy who makes great "eye candy".

"Alex just doesn't have that alpha male bravado that can squash the other people in the room, not at all," she says. "He's just very present with you even when people are going nuts over him, which happens a lot."

It just appears that all that love and lust was left on the cutting room floor.