Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. The news is that Killer Joe, the latest from the insane genius William "Call me Billy" Friedkin, will not only be getting a release, but getting it with a nifty NC-17 rating, says Deadline.
There was a lengthy appeals process, but it seems like ultimately distributor LD Entertainment has now embraced the rating and the Killer Joe crew is resigned to the fact that the MPAA won't budge. Having seen the movie (and liking it quite a bit), I know exactly what scene was the breaking point for both groups, neither one wanting to give ground. It's the climax of the movie which is about as sexually graphic as anything I've ever seen and all without one bit of nudity.
I wish more films would embrace this rating because the more that do the more the stigma of NC-17 will diminish. It's a viable rating, just as viable as R, and if it wasn't always tied with the pornographic I think we could see theaters more willing to show them and more newspapers/TV willing to let ads run.
If it didn't limit the number of theaters down to limited release size then it wouldn't be the powerful censorship tool that the MPAA wields with random abandon.
But NC-17 is always going to be the harder R. The real trick is getting Unrated films out there, films that don't have a classification. That would really break the MPAA open.
Anyway, that's a long ramble to say that come July 27th those few markets that'll get Killer Joe will get every second of the movie.
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
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