Harvey Weinstein is getting serious about suing the MPAA over its giving Bully an R rating, reports the Advocate.
Speaking at Harvey’s screening of the movie Tuesday night were high-powered attorneys David Boies and Ted Olson (a former Solicitor General), who recently successful advocated for the striking down of Prop 8.
“You can kill kids, you can maim them, you can torture them and still get a PG-13 rating,” said Boies, “But if they say a couple of bad words you blame them. I hope, for heaven’s sake, that they find some rational basis before we have to sue them to revise the rating system.”
Added Olson:
“This is an irrational decision, and I’ve heard it defended as ‘[The MPAA] really can’t do anything about it because if we make an exception here, they’ll be all sorts of people lined up wanting to have exceptions made with respect to their movies.’ What a reason for not doing something. So they better shape up, or here we come.”
Also in attendance were powerful celebrities like Tom Brokaw, Katie Couric, and Meryl Streep, who got emotional after learning that her daughter Mamie Gummer used to help bullied students.
The MPAA responded to the New York Post, “There is a misconception about the R [for] this film . . . Many other R-rated movies on important topics, such as Schindler’s List, have been screened in schools and viewed by children accompanied by their parents.”
Anybody remember watching Schindler’s List in middle school with your mommy at your side, or before the age of 13? Yeah, it didn’t happen.
Harvey will be making an appearance at the GLAAD Media Awards this Saturday to confer an award on Katy Butler, a bullied Michigan teen who started a Change.org petition to downgrade the rating. The petition has over 425,000 signatures at the moment.
DouggSeven
He can relax. Any kid that wants to see this movie when it comes out can do so online for free. If Harvey cared anything about the cause, he’s hand it over to PBS for free or the nominal cost it took to make the film. The guy is a billionaire. Let themm censor it anyway – we all know (especially 13 year olds) exactly what is being said under the bleeps. It’s not that big a deal.
MJ
i’ve already signed that petition
disgusted american
signed that petition as well….
oldgayvermonter
Strange world we live in…”Bully”, a movie about teen bullying that really needs to be seen by the kids impacted, gets an R rating. Meanwhile “Hunger Games”, a movie about violent teen murder presented as a “game”, gets a PG. Hopefully that was because the teens involved are wholesome, attractive murderers. So I call that f%*ked up.
Meanwhile, christianists (not real christians, who might ask “WWJD” before bullying gay/different/whatever kids) are planning to harass their peers on the “Day of Silence”.
Pete n SFO
MPAA is a bunch of old Hollywood dinosaurs that won’t loosen the reigns… they’ll die instead.
Weinstein has likely been looking for an opportunity to turn the apple-cart, & this project fits the bill. Power to him; it’s loooooong overdue.
Christopher
@DouggSeven: The point is that the movie should be screened to students, regardless of whether they “want to ” see it or not. The kids who want to see this movie are probably not the bullies. PBS has nothing to do with it, the point of getting the rating changed is so that it can be screened at schools to the students.
So yeah, it is a big deal.
Caleb
PLEASE, please, see the movie, “This Film is not yet Rated.” It explains why the MPAA is such a freaking joke.
Jim
It’s impossible to feel aligned with Harvey Weinstein. Hollywood seems bullied by HIM.
Cam
It is about fucking time.
This group of anonymous people will give a movie where heads are chopped off a PG and yet a tiny flash of anything socially challenging, or having anything to do with sexuality or sex will get an R.
These people have some major major issues.