nudity Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Would you have liked Terminator Salvation more if Moon Bloodgood's topless bit hadn't been cut out? Would you have been more likely to see the movie in theaters if you knew there was a flash of boob? Probably not, according to a recent psychological study, which looked at 914 movies released between 2001 and 2005 to determine if sex indeed sells at the cinema.

The results of the study say no: "sex and nudity do not, on the average, boost box office performance, earn critical acclaim or win major awards." Well, the research did show that the Golden Globes are more favorable to movies with sex scenes than the Oscars, which might make sense given that many foreign moviegoers (particularly those in Europe) are more accepting of nudity than American viewers, though it's unlikely the Hollywood Foreign Press Association is thinking about sex while determining its nominees.

In contrast, the study actually showed that sex sells even less outside the U.S., which may be because a number of international markets, such as those in Asia and the Middle East, are more censoring of such content.

After a distinguished career as a stage director, Stephen Daldry debuted as a film director with Billy Elliot; after that film's rave reviews and warm reception, his follow-up was The Hours, an ambitious adaptation of Michael Cunningham's novel that earned Daldry an Oscar nomination for Best Director. Daldry's new film The Reader, adapted from the German novel by Bernhard Schlink, tells the story of Michael Berg (Ralph Fiennes), a lawyer who looks back at his youth (with David Kross playing the young Berg) and his fierce sexual affair with a much older woman, Hanna (Kate Winslet) in post-war Germany and the secrets and truths that come to light years after their affair ends.

Speaking with Cinematical in Los Angeles, Daldry talked about nudity, morality and the perils of adaptation: "We didn't want to make a film that reminded us of Bernhard Schlink's The Reader; we wanted to make a film based on Bernhard Schlink's The Reader. ..."

Cinematical: What was the prime source of appeal for you in adapting The Reader?

Stephen Daldry: The subject. I spent a lot of time, as a schoolboy, in Germany, learning German; as an adult, I spent a lot of time in Berlin when I was running the Royal Court Theater, working with a theater in Berlin. So it's a country that I know well, that for all its contradictions and shadows, always fascinates me. And Berlin has always seemed to be on the fault line of the 20th Century. And how that country has always, from generation to generation, and continues to -- (had) to struggle with the fact that they invented Auschwitz ...it's not just interesting, it's also important.

In about an hour, I'll be writing another post regarding a new Moviefone gallery featuring the 25 Best Sex Scenes of All Time. One movie that will not be on that list (mainly because it hasn't come out yet) is Shoot 'Em Up, which arrives in theaters this Friday. Now before I go on, I must warn you that the clip we'll be linking to features both nudity and violence -- so those of you at work or around children might want to wait until the coast is clear. That said, New Line never even needed to market this film at all. All they could've done was show people this clip -- make it their trailer -- and folks would've flocked in masses. For the women, you have Clive Owen. For the men, you have Monica Bellucci. And for the people who couldn't care less about the sex, you have tons and tons of gun play. Need I say more?

The folks over at IESB are currently housing this clip, although no one seems to know where it came from. They claim it sort of landed in their laps, and so they put it up. Was it leaked on purpose? Was it not supposed to be leaked at all? We don't know. But what we do know is that the clip itself is flippin' fantastic -- and if I could simultaneously be typing this post and be on line waiting to buy tickets for this flick, you bet your ass I'd be in both places at the same time. (Actually, when you think about it, technically I could buy tickets online while I write this post. Thus, it is possible. So there ya go.) Parts of this clip were briefly shown in that last R-rated clip, but there's nothing like the whole scene to get you in the mood, so to speak. Here's a brief description to whet your appetite: While Clive and Monica get down to some between-the-sheets business, guys in ski masks burst into the room, bullets go flying, a baby begins crying and, well, the sex couldn't get any better. And Clive's final line -- classic! Check out the clip and let us know what you think -- Shoot 'Em Up hits theaters this weekend.

Itching to take a page out of her own book, Halle Berry is once again looking to perform one of those big-screen career revival stunts -- this time, however, instead of showing us her bare breasts, she'll be donning a shaved head. Back in 2001, Berry made waves by going topless in the film Swordfish. The scene itself was totally gratuitous and had no business being in the film, but it probably helped boost box office sales for a flick that wasn't that good in the first place. Of course, once the clothes were off, Berry opened herself up to other roles in riskier films -- Monster's Ball (in which she won an Oscar for best actress) being one of them.

This new film, Nappily Ever After (which, thankfully, isn't a sequel to Happy N'ever After), is being labeled a romantic comedy and will follow a woman who decides to shave her head bald when, for some reason, her hair begins to fall out. Of course, there will be this whole "real beauty comes from the inside" theme running throughout. Thanks for the life lesson Halle -- I guess I'm the only one who thinks bald women are beautiful and sexy too (I'll take a bald Natalie Portman over a full head of hair on Cameron Diaz any day). To make things even more "real," Berry will shave her head in the film instead of wearing some sort of cap. However, filming won't begin until at least next year; a new draft for Nappily Ever After was just turned in.

Simpsons creator Matt Groening recently sat down with Crave Online to discuss everything Simpsons, while also dishing a little bit of dirt on that tiny, minuscule movie coming out this summer. (Wait, there's a Simpsons movie? Do tell!) Though he didn't divulge too much information, he did note that we'll finally find out which state the Simpsons live in ... by way of a joke. However, Groening adds "Remember, I said joke." One of the great things about a feature-length film is that there's enough room for you to not get tied down to one character; Groening admitted the pic will focus on the entire family, instead of, say, only Homer.

But what about the good stuff? Will there be cursing, nudity -- will Bart crack someone over the head with his skateboard, then shove the broken pieces of wood down some pour soul's throat? Okay, we won't go that far, but those Simpsons freaks have definitely included a few things you won't see on the TV show. Says Groening, "You'll see more of The Simpsons than you really should see and probably things, people you don't want to see. Whoever you don't want to see naked on The Simpsons, you know that's who you're going to see. Sorry about Marge." Um, am I the only one who wouldn't mind seeing a little bit more of Marge? Then again, should I be even remotely excited about seeing an animated character naked? Will the FBI start tracking me now? For more with Groening (including his favorite Simpsons episode and lots of Futurama talk), head on over to Crave Online. The Simpsons Movie hits theaters on July 27.

A movie that will be pretty much the exact same thing as the touring musical is on the way, promising an extremely thin plot that is exactly what the title suggests: Naked Boys Singing! The musical features songs like "The Bliss of a Bris" and "Gratuitous Nudity", and has been touring in cities around the world since 1998. In fact, in New York City, it's the 10th Longest Running Off-Broadway Show ever. (Whose job is it to keep a list of these things? Someone must be doing it, tirelessly.)

The show has also had a fair share of controversy, having been shut down in Georgia, Massachusetts, Wisconsin and branded as "adult entertainment," although most view the shutdowns as attacks on the gay community and not against the play itself. Basically this is The Full Monty, except stripped (pun intended) of a plot, and replete with songs and nakedness. It's not like people wouldn't be informed of that fact, having most likely at least read the title of the musical, or seen what's printed on their tickets.

At any rate, this will probably be a blip on the radar when it comes out, and then move at the speed of Pauly Shore to DVD. But if you've been waiting for a movie all about male nudity and nothing else, then you can soon end your vigil and treat yourself to a trip to the movies. Hopefully you live near an arthouse theater.

[Via WOW Report]

Over on sister site Blogging Baby, Jay Allen (full disclosure - he's married to your humble managing editor, aka, me) is blogging about the pay-per-view option to buy Fantastic Four in either its original version, or in a "family-friendly" version. He discusses the film and how our children handled it - although I'll note that he neglects to mention the raised eyebrow he got from me when I came downstairs and saw what our children were watching just before bedtime. I'm not particularly a big fan of edited films ala Clean Flicks, but after my 6-year-old son spend the rest of the evening gleefully talking about "that naked invisible girl" and how he "saw her bra and panties", I may have to reconsider my stance.

This wasn't a Clean Flicks edit, though, it was presumably, a studio-offered edited version (at least, I assume it was a studio edit, though I suppose the pay-per-view people could have done it). What do you think of studios editing their films to make "family friendly" versions? If you have the option to watch an edited version of a film with violence/sex/nudity/language, would you watch the "clean" version? Or do you like your films "dirty"?

Edward Jay Epstein has written a compelling piece for Slate which explains why showing nudity in movies these days can spell financial disaster for studios. He gives many reasons for this, such as the box office failure of the NC-17 rated Showgirls, but the most interesting is what Epstein describes as  the "Wal-Mart consideration." Studios rake in mega-cash through home video sales, and a majority of those come from Wal-Mart, which is strict about the movies it makes available, not wanting to sell anything offensive or inappropriate. This has many worried that Wal-Mart's clout far exceeds what it should.