Now that we're getting to the scenes with Sarah Castle, I suppose that this is as good a time as any to inquire about Monica Rich. I've heard stories over the years that DC was unsatisfied with her performance and cut out or simply did not film a lot of her scenes. The script, as published by KLS, doesn't really give Sarah a significantly larger part. Rich's imdb page doesn't list any credits other than NODS. Did Sarah have a larger part in an earlier script? And just how bad an actor did you have to be for DC to edit your part down?
Grayson's script is earlier than DC's and Sarah's part is the same in both. The interesting thing so far as cuts go is that in the scripts Sarah has more to do in Scene 56 (Angelique's funeral) but none of it is in the film. Also interestingly is that scene is a somewhat rewritten version in DC's script yet Sarah's part is still the same. And even more interestingly is that Scene 56 was the first one shot for the film so one might presume that not having worked with her yet, DC would have shot Monica Rich/Sarah's part - but if he did and it wasn't that he just didn't bother to shoot it (he could have deemed it an unnecessary character moment, which would have certainly been in keeping with how he operated), it ended up on the cutting room floor. And as we'll see in the upcoming Scenes 118 through 131 (1810 flashback), there are several instances where Sarah material is not in the film, not even the 129 minute version. In fact, there's one entire scene that is not in any version of the film...
As for how bad an actor someone had to be to have their part edited down, I never thought Monica gave a bad performance in any of her surviving material in the film, so I question how bad she could have been if what's missing really was shot. I agree with what Gothick had to say back in 2016:
I can't understand DC's problems with Monica Rich. I thought she was very effective in what we do see. Her closeups were incredibly intense and poignant.