Board Upholds R Rating for 'Fahrenheit'
2 hours, 43 minutes ago
By DAVID GERMAIN, AP Movie Writer
LOS ANGELES - Michael Moore (news) and his distributors lost their appeal Tuesday to lower the R rating for "Fahrenheit 9/11," his scathing **** on President Bush (news - web sites)'s actions before and after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Lions Gate Films and IFC Films, the movie's distributors, said an appeals board for the Motion Picture Association of America rejected their request to reduce the rating to PG-13.
The R rating prohibits those 17 and younger from seeing "Fahrenheit 9/11" without an adult.
Moore urged younger teenagers to go see the film anyway. "I encourage all teenagers to come see my movie, by any means necessary. If you need me to sneak you in, let me know," he said.
"Fahrenheit 9/11," which won the top honor at last month's Cannes Film Festival (news - web sites), depicts the White House as asleep at the wheel before the Sept. 11 attacks. Moore accuses Bush of fanning fears of future **** to win public support for the Iraq (news - web sites) war.
The movie was rated R for "**** and disturbing images and for language." The images include an Iraqi man tossing a **** baby into a truckload of bodies, Iraqis burned by **** and a public beheading in Saudi Arabia.
Tom Ortenberg, president of Lions Gate Films, had argued to the appeals board that 15- and 16-year-olds should be free to see the film on their own because they could end up in military service in Iraq in the next few years.
"I hope the R rating doesn't have a large impact on the box office," Ortenberg said. "I've spoken with many parents, including some on the appeals board, who absolutely said they are going to take their children to see the film. We'll just have to hope the teenagers we're encouraging to see this picture find their way in through parents or adult guardians."
"Fahrenheit 9/11" opens in limited release in New York on Wednesday and nationwide in about 850 theaters Friday.
Jonathan Sehring, president of IFC Films, said the R rating could reduce the film's theatrical revenues by 10 to 20 percent.
The distributors had hoped the appeals board "would step back and see the bigger picture and importance of this film, and one of the key audiences that this film should be seen by," Sehring said. "Some of the images are disturbing, but in a year or two, if kids are off to war, they're going to be faced with those disturbing images for real."
Last-minute challenges to movie ratings are not uncommon, said MPAA spokesman Richard Taylor. The timing depends on how soon before theatrical release the movie is presented to the MPAA for initial rating, he said.
Films are rated by a panel of parents or those with parenting experience. If a distributor challenges the rating, it is screened for an appeals board of Hollywood workers, which also hears oral arguments from the distributor.
The ratings squabble came after a row Moore had with Disney, which refused to let subsidiary Miramax distribute "Fahrenheit 9/11," saying the movie was too politically charged.
Miramax bosses Harvey and Bob Weinstein bought back the film from Disney and lined up Lions Gate and IFC to help release it.
( http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040622/ap_en_mo/film_fahrenheit_9_11_rating_2 )
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:evil:
I feel that it is good that they are keeping the R rating. It allows the producers to leave in everything that should be and that needs to be shown. And besides, I dont think that that many kids under 17 would be spending their money to go see the movie anyway (with prices being as high as they are).
I feel that it is good that they are keeping the R rating. It allows the producers to leave in everything that should be and that needs to be shown. And besides, I dont think that that many kids under 17 would be spending their money to go see the movie anyway (with prices being as high as they are).
i feel what cha sayin'....
& some places, though...like in umm, Raleigh unfortunately....the "R" rating means u gotta be 18 & up (not 17 :?)...
& i know there r some world-conscious 17 year-oldz out there....may not be an abundance....but there are some....
& his whole point in gettin' the 17 & under ground 2 see it...was so they'd be aware of everything, since they'll also be the ones drafted soon....whenever that does take place...
I hear that the final decision came after an actor in the movie
said the 10 letter-word. (motha******) and after the review
board heard that, they said they couldn't approve it for PG-13.
hah!! like they ain't heard these words before
I swear... It must be a panel of old **** white women on that damn panel. I mean........ MOTHERF*CKER??? come on... them lil **** kids be sayin sh*t way way worse than that to their teachers... They shouldn't of gave it that rating for that reason... People are always for showing their kids the truth, and letting them know what really goes on in society, by why are they always so AFRAID to let them be exposed to reality? Its gonna happen eventually. Its no wonder that parents are always suprised when they kids go out on their own and they are always shocked at how f*cked the world can be...
*sigh* I tell ya... damn republicans...
I swear... It must be a panel of old **** white women on that damn panel. I mean........ MOTHERF*CKER??? come on... them lil **** kids be sayin sh*t way way worse than that to their teachers... They shouldn't of gave it that rating for that reason... People are always for showing their kids the truth, and letting them know what really goes on in society, by why are they always so AFRAID to let them be exposed to reality? Its gonna happen eventually. Its no wonder that parents are always suprised when they kids go out on their own and they are always shocked at how f*cked the world can be...
*sigh* I tell ya... damn republicans...
lol, tru tru...
plus, in reading your whole response...i got to thinkin' about my elementary school days & what they exposed me too...
i swear like every single year i was in elementary school, they had us watchin' ROOTS...for social studies or whateva....
now if they can have us watchin' ROOTS...they can have them lil kids today (who r a WHOOOLE LOT WORSE THAN WE WERE GROWIN' UP...& ya'll KNOW THIS) watchin' this lil documentary...
What does the little part about the public beheading in Saudia Arabia, napalming....etc have to deal with the movie... maybe I missed something...but to me it goes against the whole point of the movie. Moore said that Bush wants to instill fear that there will be more terrorists attacks and then they show how **** they are with their own people....to me those scene show me that if they can do that to their own what will they do to others...is anybody following me...i'm just stuck as to why those scenes are in the movie. I thought it would show the horrors of 9/11
Yeah I hear ya. These kids now and days are horrible... If I was they daddy... .... OH you know that there's gonna be hell to pay. Man if they were to watch roots now, those prolly would be laughin throughout the whole movie... :x They need to watch this Farenheit movie, Rosewood, COPS, CSI, hell take their bad **** on a field trip through the projects... :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: Something needs to be done, its hard to believe that they are actually going to be our nations future...
It may sound strange, but I really trully understand what everybody meant when they were sayin that about us. But hell at least we did have some common sense... But as they say common sense isn't very common... and it damn sure aint today.
DAMMIT where is NeoSoulwhen you need him... :x
.... OH you know that there's gonna be hell to pay. Man if they were to watch roots now, those prolly would be laughin throughout the whole movie... :x They need to watch this Farenheit movie, Rosewood, COPS, CSI, hell take their bad **** on a field trip through the projects... :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: Something needs to be done, its hard to believe that they are actually going to be our nations future... 
It may sound strange, but I really trully understand what everybody meant when they were sayin that about us. But hell at least we did have some common sense... But as they say common sense isn't very common... and it damn sure aint today.
DAMMIT where is 
