The jury is still out on Zack Snyder‘s “Sucker Punch,” the robots and dragons and girls with guns and swords fantasy pic that opens this Friday. And while it certainly looks unlike anything to hit the big screen — for better or worse — Emily Browning reveals that she’s pissed one sequence in particular got cut to please the MPAA and help secure a PG-13 rating for the film.
In an interview with Nylon (via CinemaBlend) the actress reveals that things get hot and heavy between her character and Jon Hamm. And it made folks rating the film uncomfortable. She explains:
“I had a very tame and mild love scene with Jon Hamm. It was like heavy breathing and making out. It was hardly a sex scene… I think that it’s great for this young girl to actually take control of her own sexuality. Well, the MPAA doesn’t like that. They don’t think a girl should ever be in control of her own sexuality because they’re from the Stone Age. I don’t know what the fuck is going on and I will openly criticize it, happily. So essentially, they got Zack to edit the scene and make it look less like she’s into it. And Zack said he edited it down to the point where it looked like he was taking advantage of her. That’s the only way he could get a PG-13 (rating) and he said, ‘I don’t want to send that message.’ So they cut the scene!”
However, the actress does acknowledge that a PG-13 rating is the only way young girls are going to be able to see the film which is apparently empowering. “I’m torn. I want an ‘R’ (rating) because we can get a lot of cool scenes into it, but then I like the idea of younger girls being able to see it,” she said.
And before those cry out that Snyder’s artistic integrity is being compromised, he probably knew from day one that he had to deliver a PG-13 cut. After “Watchmen” underperformed there was no way Warner Bros. was going to roll the dice on another expensive niche, R-rated movie. Snyder will probably get to put all the blood and boobies he wants in what is likely to be an inevitable unrated director’s cut down the line so everyone can have their Hamm and eat it too.
