'Max Payne' Director Blames Batman Bias for R Rating
Filed under: Action, Thrillers, RumorMonger, Distribution, 20th Century Fox, Games and Game Movies
Talk about picking your battles: John Moore, director of the upcoming thriller Max Payne, has openly lashed out at the MPAA for granting the film a full-blown R rating instead of an hoped-for PG-13, explicitly calling out the ratings board for granting leniency towards The Dark Knight. His NSFW thoughts on the matter were brought to light during an interview with Das Gamer; I'd recommend that you head over there and give it a look-see.
Now, most filmmakers shoot for the more profitable PG-13 due to contractual obligation, and while I don't doubt that's part of the drive here -- as a studio, Fox has shown no scruples about trimming out the naughtier bits of last month's Babylon A.D. and last summer's Live Free or Die Hard -- Moore has been quite openly set on earning one. Who knows, maybe the man is actually out to prove the difference between lots of action and lots of violence, or perhaps it's just semantics as he shuffles back to the cutting room.
Moore made the PG-13 action flick Behind Enemy Lines for Fox, but also the R-rated horror remake The Omen, and judging from this most recent trailer, this seems to be a fair cross between the two in terms of genre intensity (guns and demons -- what kid wouldn't sneak in if they had to?). We'll just say how rough and tough Max Payne really turns out to be come October 17th.
[And a tip of the hat to /Film.]
Peter Jackson Says Spielberg's 'Tintin' is Done Filming, but...
Interracial Harmony: 'Ninja Assassin' vs. 'Blind Side'
Spin-ematical: New on DVD for 11/24_thumbnail.jpg)
Exclusive 'Nine' Poster Premiere!
Exclusive: Title Track for 'The Road' Soundtrack
_thumbnail.jpg)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-07-2008 @ 8:58PM
Red.Wolf said...
PG-13 - Max Payne: Finding Nemo
Reply
9-08-2008 @ 12:16PM
Peter Hall said...
Just a note, the only demons in Max Payne are of the figurative drug-battling kind. Assuming the movie just went crazy with the visuals, all those winged folk are Valkyrie induced hallucinations; Valkyrie being the name of the city wide scourge drug and, of course, been the mythical harbinger that drags souls to the afterlife.
I'm kind of surprised they'd expect a PG-13 with how integral intravenous drug usage is to the plot, nevermind all the gun play...
Reply
9-09-2008 @ 6:06AM
Bob said...
When I went to see batman, I didn't know the rating. After seeing the film I thought it had an R rating. I was quite surprised when I found out it had a PG-13 rating. I can't figure out why the director adapting an M rated game with a dark story would want to compromise the film just to get a PG-13 rating.
Reply