'Fifty Shades of Grey' Movie Hopes to Avoid NC-17 Rating
The highly-anticipated "Fifty Shades of Grey" movie adaptation is, entertainment wise, one of the most trending topics in the country. A question on a lot of fans minds is will the movie end up being rated NC-17 due to the novel's graphic sexual content?
While the director Sam Taylor Johnson and "Shades" trilogy author E L James have said that they won't push the sexual content so the film gets an R-rating, Melissa Silverstein of Women and Hollywood blog on indiewire.com says Johnson has her work cut out for her.
"She is going to have to walk a very fine line," Silverstein told USA Today. "That's the $1,000 question. Are they going to push things to a different level?"
"Twilight" director Catherine Hardwicke, who is working on a sexually charged thriller "Plush," told USA Today that many people are still uncomfortable with explicit sex scenes on screen. Hardwicke had wanted to include explicit sex scenes in her upcoming film.
"People were surprised to see something so sexual," Hardwicke said. "I thought after the success of (the novel) 'Fifty Shades of Grey' that people would be totally excited to see it. But it was too intense. It's a whole different feeling on the screen."
Kirby Dick, who directed 2006's MPAA ratings documentary "This Film Is Not Yet Rated," believes that an NC-17 rating is one of the worst things that can happen for a film.
"Historically, the NC-17 rating has dramatically impacted box office. It's the kiss of death in most cases," Dick told USA Today.
According to USA Today, the sex scenes may be toned down for an R-rating but that doesn't mean there won't be more explicit scenes on an unrated DVD version or a special release. No matter how explicit the sex scenes end up being, Charlie Hunnam, who was recently cast as Christian Grey, says he won't have a problem doing sex scenes with co-star Dakota Johnson.
"Fifty Shades of Grey" is set to premiere on Aug. 1, 2014.