The Fifty Shades of Grey screenwriter is causing some controversy by revealing in a new interview that she’s writing the script for the film to be NC-17.
The elusive rating, which you never see in regular theaters, can instantly kill a film’s box office potential because it the film is too graphic for an average moviegoer to be comfortable with. Moreover, anyone under the age of 17 is banned from entering the theater.
Kelly Marcel, the series’ screenwriter who was picked up for the project in October, spoke to Style Magazine about the script and seems to insist that it will be rated NC-17. “There is going to be a lot of sex in the film,” she said. “It will be NC-17. It’s going to be raunchy. We are 100 per cent going there.”
When asked which sex scenes will be included, she said, “We did go through and decide which are our favourites and which are not. Most of them are in there, but I can’t say more than that.”
If the film does indeed get a NC-17 rating in the United States, does the fact that it’s Fifty Shades mean that the adult-only rating won’t affect its box office success? Afterall, who would’ve guessed that the Fifty Shades book series, with its very graphic and detailed sex scenes, could’ve been so popular? Perhaps the film could break the stigma of NC-17.
On the other hand, Universal Pictures and Focus Features (who own the film) may realize that there’s no shot of it being a hit with a NC-17 rating in the U.S., so they’ll release a R-rated version. Or, they could release two versions of it in theaters (R and NC-17) – this is us thinking aloud.
Elsewhere in the interview, Marcel talks about why she wanted to take on the project. “Regardless of what you may think of the writing, this is a modern love story, involving two complex characters, and that’s what I’m interested in.”
Hypable encourages the community to use our Comments feature to hold thoughtful, polite, and critical discussions. We do NOT tolerate inappropriate, rude, or downright mean discussion towards the news story's subject matter or towards other Hypable users. We reserve the right to delete or ban comments and users who violate these guidelines.