The Kingās Speech may get bleeps, in lieu of cuts, in order to obtain a more family-friendly rating.
The Kingās Speech producer Harvey Weinstein wants a PG-13 rating to broaden the Oscar-nominated filmās potential audience. The filmās stars and director are adamant against any new cuts, which would excise chunks of one expletive-filled scene. Star Geoffrey Rush told The Hollywood Reporter that the curses in question are used āalmost like a tongue-twister. Itās gobbledygook. But itās not aggressive, itās not offensive. Itās not harmful. They should just ābleepā it. If you cut it, then youāre going cut one of the key thrills of the film.ā It sounds like director Tom Hooper might be taking that suggestion into consideration.
Talking to Entertainment Weekly, Hooper suggested that he may be looking at bleeping as a method of censorship, saying āI wouldnāt support cutting the film in any way. I think we looked at whether itās possible to bleep out the fās and stuff, but Iām not going to actually cut that part,ā further clarifying, āIām not going to cut the film.ā He has not yet made a conclusive statement on the bleeps, and the Weinstein company has not commented on this latest development.
Helena Bonham Carter spoke to EW as well, arguing, āI donāt think it needs to be cut down. I think every 13-year-old knows [the words], I think every 8-year-old [does].ā The use of these words in the context presented in the film is certainly much less colorful than what I heard on the playground at age eight, thatās for certain.
Published: Feb 1, 2011 3:54 AM UTC