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No sex please, we're Yanks
Censors don't allow adults to enjoy doing it
By LOUIS B. HOBSON -- Calgary Sun
HOLLYWOOD -- Urgent message for James Bond.
If you come to America, you'll be allowed to have sex but don't you dare enjoy it.
That's the message the U.S. censors passed on to cinema's most famous spy through Lee Tamahori the director of Bond's newest adventure Die Another Day.
In order for Die Another Day to keep a PG rating in the U.S., Tamahori had to trim the sex scene between Pierce Brosnan and Halle Berry.
"In America, the characters are not allowed to show they're enjoying the sex they're having," says Tamahori.
"The rating board told me in the version I sent them Pierce and Halle appeared to be enjoying themselves too much and that there was too much movement in their love making."
DVD HAS FULL SEX SCENE
Tamahori reluctantly trimmed the sex scene so it would meet the requirements of the American ratings board.
"This trimmed version will play across North America though I doubt we'd have had the same problems in Canada. The original version is playing abroad and will be the one featured on the DVD."
The New Zealand director, whose films include Once Were Warriors, Mulholland Falls and The Edge, is dismayed by what he feels is disturbing hypocrisy.
"The message the censors are sending me is that I can pierce a man's brain with a laser but heaven forbid that I should show two adults enjoying sex."
The producers of George Clooney's sci-fi love story Solaris also found themselves butting heads with the U.S. ratings board.
Clooney has two brief sex scenes with costar Natasha McElhone.
In both cases, she is fully clothed but he is naked and lying on his stomach.
"Apparently it was my bare butt that threatened to get the picture a restricted rating in the U.S. but I think the executives at (20th Century Fox) had as much to do in this case as the ratings board," says Clooney.
"I don't doubt they asked Fox if they'd be willing to recut the scenes so the cameras did linger on me the entire time and Fox jumped at the chance to have a little controversy.
"It certainly put a little awareness of Solaris out there."
Director Steven Soderbergh did not make any changes to the print and on its second submission it was granted a PG rating.
Clooney jokingly says he "demanded the nude scene. I want equal exposure for male movie stars."
He does reveal that "in the original script, there was a great deal more nudity. I had no objections. I told Steven Soderbergh I'd do as much as he thought important to the film."
SLAPPED WITH R RATING
Both star and director eventually decided to include only two nude scenes.
"The danger is not in doing movie sex scenes. It's in the selling of them, especially any form of male nudity. You almost assuredly get slapped with a restricted rating and that can greatly influence a film's box-office."
McElhone reveals she was actually nude in several of the versions of the two scenes.
"I was as surprised as anyone that Steven chose to use footage in which I was fully clothed. We certainly filmed versions in which I was as naked as George."
A third sex scene for a holiday movie had U.S. censors raising concerns as well as eyebrows but this time it had nothing to do with nudity.
In the domestic drama Far From Heaven, Julianne Moore's character discovers her husband played by Dennis Quaid is a homosexual.
She makes the discovery by walking into his office one night to find him kissing one of his male coworkers.
According to director Todd Haynes, in order to keep a PG rating for Far From Heaven he couldn't "linger too long on the kiss or come in too close."
This didn't worry him because "there was never any intention to be sensational. It's meant to be a tender moment for the men and shocking one for Julianne.
Censors don't allow adults to enjoy doing it
By LOUIS B. HOBSON -- Calgary Sun
HOLLYWOOD -- Urgent message for James Bond.
If you come to America, you'll be allowed to have sex but don't you dare enjoy it.
That's the message the U.S. censors passed on to cinema's most famous spy through Lee Tamahori the director of Bond's newest adventure Die Another Day.
In order for Die Another Day to keep a PG rating in the U.S., Tamahori had to trim the sex scene between Pierce Brosnan and Halle Berry.
"In America, the characters are not allowed to show they're enjoying the sex they're having," says Tamahori.
"The rating board told me in the version I sent them Pierce and Halle appeared to be enjoying themselves too much and that there was too much movement in their love making."
DVD HAS FULL SEX SCENE
Tamahori reluctantly trimmed the sex scene so it would meet the requirements of the American ratings board.
"This trimmed version will play across North America though I doubt we'd have had the same problems in Canada. The original version is playing abroad and will be the one featured on the DVD."
The New Zealand director, whose films include Once Were Warriors, Mulholland Falls and The Edge, is dismayed by what he feels is disturbing hypocrisy.
"The message the censors are sending me is that I can pierce a man's brain with a laser but heaven forbid that I should show two adults enjoying sex."
The producers of George Clooney's sci-fi love story Solaris also found themselves butting heads with the U.S. ratings board.
Clooney has two brief sex scenes with costar Natasha McElhone.
In both cases, she is fully clothed but he is naked and lying on his stomach.
"Apparently it was my bare butt that threatened to get the picture a restricted rating in the U.S. but I think the executives at (20th Century Fox) had as much to do in this case as the ratings board," says Clooney.
"I don't doubt they asked Fox if they'd be willing to recut the scenes so the cameras did linger on me the entire time and Fox jumped at the chance to have a little controversy.
"It certainly put a little awareness of Solaris out there."
Director Steven Soderbergh did not make any changes to the print and on its second submission it was granted a PG rating.
Clooney jokingly says he "demanded the nude scene. I want equal exposure for male movie stars."
He does reveal that "in the original script, there was a great deal more nudity. I had no objections. I told Steven Soderbergh I'd do as much as he thought important to the film."
SLAPPED WITH R RATING
Both star and director eventually decided to include only two nude scenes.
"The danger is not in doing movie sex scenes. It's in the selling of them, especially any form of male nudity. You almost assuredly get slapped with a restricted rating and that can greatly influence a film's box-office."
McElhone reveals she was actually nude in several of the versions of the two scenes.
"I was as surprised as anyone that Steven chose to use footage in which I was fully clothed. We certainly filmed versions in which I was as naked as George."
A third sex scene for a holiday movie had U.S. censors raising concerns as well as eyebrows but this time it had nothing to do with nudity.
In the domestic drama Far From Heaven, Julianne Moore's character discovers her husband played by Dennis Quaid is a homosexual.
She makes the discovery by walking into his office one night to find him kissing one of his male coworkers.
According to director Todd Haynes, in order to keep a PG rating for Far From Heaven he couldn't "linger too long on the kiss or come in too close."
This didn't worry him because "there was never any intention to be sensational. It's meant to be a tender moment for the men and shocking one for Julianne.
I'm likely as conservative as they come but I have to wonder sometimes about the logic behind what gets an R and what doesnt'...it seems we're much more likely to allow violence then sex which IMO isn't something I agree with. Not having kids yet I will likely see things differenlty later but right now I think I'd rather let my kids watch a brief stint of nudity if done properly then to see some guys head blown off. I guess I don't have a problem with the ratings being given since they serve a purpose but I do sometimes wonder if how they're doing it is the right way...afterall didn't someone once say make love not war
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