Should producer convert R-rated 'The King's Speech' into family fare?
| Hollywood, Calif.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 think I wanted to see an historical drama about a king who stutters,鈥� says Imogene Bartha, the mother of a 13-year-old boy, as she flips through the Calendar section of the Los Angeles Times in a local coffee shop. 鈥淏ut now here鈥檚 this ad telling me it got more Oscar nominations than any other movie, so I鈥檓 inclined to check it out.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥� is the highly acclaimed movie 鈥淭he King鈥檚 Speech,鈥� starring Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter, and Geoffrey Rush, all of whom were nominated for acting honors. Mr. Firth plays Queen Elizabeth II鈥檚 stuttering father, King George VI, who seeks the assistance of speech therapist Lionel Logue, played by Mr. Rush, on the eve of World War II. The film was nominated for 12 Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
Ms. Bartha鈥檚 one dilemma, she says, is presented by her son. Can she see the movie with him? The movie is rated R, which means, says the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), it 鈥渕ay include adult themes, adult activity, hard language, intense or persistent violence, sexually-oriented nudity, drug abuse or other elements, so that parents are counseled to take this rating very seriously.鈥�
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Now, in an apparent attempt to avoid such dilemmas by potential moviegoers and reach a wider audience, 鈥淪peech鈥� producer Harvey Weinstein is reported to be planning to re-edit the film. The movie received an R rating due to two or three short but important scenes in which the king swears repeatedly in an effort to correct his stammer.
鈥淭he British numbers are huge because the rating lets families see the movie together,鈥� Weinstein is quoted as saying in the British newspaper The Guardian. Director 鈥淭om [Hooper] and I are trying to find a unique way to do this that keeps his vision of the movie.鈥�
Weinstein, whose 鈥�Shakespeare in Love鈥� won Best Picture in 1998, is considered to have top-tier marketing and movie instincts. But several critics say the idea of altering this movie is ill-advised. Some are criticizing the MPAA鈥檚 rating system for not being nuanced enough. The MPAA responds that its system is merely a guide for parents, nothing more.
New focus on friendship?
鈥淭his is a very bad idea indeed. The movie is perfect the way it is,鈥� says Wheeler Winston Dixon, editor of the Quarterly Review of Film and Video at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. 鈥淲hen you try to recut the best film of 2010, the reason better be for artistic reasons or more enhancement. But this scene is the heart of the movie and is not gratuitous or for shock value. But the simple reason of trying to make more money is unconscionable and is a move that should not be countenanced.鈥�
[Editor's note: The above quote has been corrected.]
The Guardian also reports that Weinstein, to attract wider crowds, plans to refocus attention on the friendship between the king and his therapist, with new advertisements.
The original descriptive line was 鈥淚t takes leadership to confront a nation鈥檚 fear. It takes friendship to conquer your own.鈥� Besides touting the film鈥檚 12 Oscar nominations, new taglines will read, 鈥淪ome things never go out of style: Friendship; Courage; Loyalty.鈥�
鈥淭his seems like an odd tactic to me,鈥� says Robert Elder, film columnist and author of 鈥淭he Film That Changed My Life.鈥� 鈥淚t鈥檚 not like it hasn鈥檛 found its audience. I don鈥檛 know any 14-year-olds who are clamoring for an historical drama about a king with a stammer. When I go to an R-rated movie, I personally look forward to an audience not filled with teenagers.鈥�
Dixon, Elder, and others point to the fact that many filmmakers manipulate their films prior to release to get a different rating or to deal with criticism. Responding to charges of anti-Semitism, Mel Gibson famously decided to not translate a particular line in 2004鈥檚 鈥�The Passion of the Christ.鈥� Todd Solonz鈥檚 2001 鈥淪torytelling鈥� put red boxes over explicit sex scenes.
'Archaic rating system'
鈥淚 guess they could just bleep out the profanity like they do on cable TV for instance, and it wouldn't be too terrible,鈥� says Picktainment.com鈥檚 Phil Wallace. 鈥淢aybe they can do that in some theaters, but not in others.鈥�
But 鈥渢he real issue is the MPAA and its archaic rating system,鈥� he says. The profanity is 鈥渟omewhat essential to the story as it鈥檚 an honest depiction of individuals with stuttering problems. The swearing is used in the least offensive way of any movie I've seen and hardly deserving of an R-rating. Yet the MPAA continues to give PG-13 ratings to raunchy teen sex comedies which are far more offensive.鈥�
The MPAA is going out of its way to remind moviegoers that the entire purpose of the rating system is to inform parents about content.
鈥淭his is not for critics or filmmakers or marketers,鈥� says Elizabeth Kaltman, Los Angeles spokeswoman for the MPAA. 鈥淭he criticism we hear about this system is generated by clever marketing executives who are trying to get buzz for their movies. It鈥檚 important to note that we rarely, if ever, get told by parents that our rating has been too restrictive and the movie should be more accessible to children. The R rating doesn鈥檛 ever mean that parents can鈥檛 take children to see a movie. All it says is 鈥榶ou parents should educated about this before you take children to the theater.鈥� 鈥�
No one at the MPAA, says Ms. Kaltman, can ever remember a time when a filmmaker has tried to resubmit a film for a different rating after it has already been released. But occasionally, she says, that happens when a film is about to be sold on DVD.
Movie benefits from Oscar buzz
Oscar buzz has already improved the fortunes of 鈥淭he King鈥檚 Speech," says Harry Medved, spokesman for movie ticketing service Fandango.
鈥淔or several weeks in a row, 鈥�The King's Speech鈥� has been slowly but surely appearing among our top five ticket-sellers,鈥� Mr. Medved says. 鈥淏ut on Tuesday it moved up to the top spot as Fandango's top ticket-seller of the day. You wouldn't expect any film with the words 鈥楰ing鈥� or 鈥楽peech鈥� in the title to be a true crowd-pleaser, but this little movie continues to pack select theaters across the country, and shows no signs of slowing down.鈥�
Medved notes that according to historical accounts, the king really used the profanity as part of his therapy, and that in the movie 鈥渋t makes for an amusing sequence.鈥�
鈥淢ost informed and discriminating parents will know there鈥檚 just a tiny spot of profanity in the movie,鈥� he says, 鈥渁nd they鈥檒l take their older kids to see it regardless of the rating.鈥�
The Weinstein Co. did not respond to several attempts for comment.
