On 32 bits, there is no reason to get a 'long' here:

>>> int(float(sys.maxint))
2147483647L
>>> int(int(float(sys.maxint)))
2147483647
>>> int(float(-sys.maxint-1))
-2147483648L
>>> int(int(float(-sys.maxint-1)))
-2147483648

On 64 bits, it's another story because floats cannot store 64 bits of precision.  However, -sys.maxint-1 can still be represented exactly in a float, and the same issue occurs:

>>> int(float(-sys.maxint-1))
-9223372036854775808L
>>> int(int(float(-sys.maxint-1)))
-9223372036854775808