Egoyan Fights For Truth chafes against MPAA NC-17 ruling September 13th 2005 09:37pm | Posted by: Robert Falconer HNR Senior Editor Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan is ruffled. His new film, Where the Truth Lies, recently received an NC-17 rating from the Motion Picture Association of America for a three-way sex scene between stars Kevin Bacon, Rachel Blanchard and Colin Firth. Egoyan argues the scene is crucial, "because it gives us access to the emotional needs of the main characters in the film." NC-17 films are open only to anyone 18 or older and often suffer at the box office. "It's so upsetting that they can decide in a completely subjective way," he told Playback magazine.   "It was important to me to express the sexual lives of the characters in a non-exploitive way," he goes on, "so I shot the film in one take. There is only a master shot. I have no option to show the scene from different camera angles." Egoyan travelled to L.A. for a Sept. 7 hearing, hoping to talk the MPAA and the National Association of Theatre Owners into reducing the rating to a more marketable R status - which would allow under-17-year-olds to attend if accompanied by an adult. In a recent statement, the MPAA explained that it rates films according to the tastes of most American parents, which to Egoyan sounds "like the Ontario Censor Board in the '80s, when they used to ban films, saying that 'It might be okay in Toronto but we have to reflect the rural areas, too.'" Where the Truth Lies is set for a platform release in the U.S. through ThinkFilm on Oct. 14. If it receives an R rating, it will play in cities such as New York and L.A., gathering reviews and publicity, before moving into wide release. If the NC-17 stands, ThinkFilm says it will seek out venues wherever possible, but its options will be limited. In Canada, Where the Truth Lies is rated R and will open wide on Oct. 7, again through ThinkFilm. What's most confounding here, is that given the well-publicized mechanism by which Hollywood grades films, and the current conservative climate within the United States, that Egoyan honestly didn't understand that a three-way sex scene would meet with this sort of reaction south of the 49th parallel. Egoyan has been making films for the past 25 years. His most controversial earlier works, Exotica and The Sweet Hereafter, both received R ratings in the U.S. and AA in Canada. Source: Playback magazine In: General Movie News |Visit the HNR Forums

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