“Zack and Miri” Will Be Rated R

Kevin Smith’s next film, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, which stars Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks, will be rated R after all, according to the Associated Press. As you may recall, the film was originally rated NC-17 by the MPAA. It was only on appeal that this porno was granted clemency.

Kevin explains the controversy to the AP:

“They felt it was rather sexually graphic. My point is, it was comically graphic. All the sex in the movie with the exception of one scene is very cartoonish, very campy,” Smith said. “It wasn’t designed to titillate.”

I’d like to echo the sentiments of the guys over at News Askew and congratulation Kev and Mosier on the win. The fact that they didn’t have to make any additional cuts to get the rating that they wanted is huge. I’m sure the fact that they’ve got one of the biggest stars in the industry right now (Rogen) as their lead didn’t hurt—After all, the MPAA wants a healthy industry first and foremost, right? And how would limiting the audience of a Seth Rogen movie with an NC-17 help business?—but I’m sure that the View Askew team put together an excellent case for the appeals board, as well.

Meanwhile, Seth Rogen is chatting about Zack and Miri (among other things) in this new interview with Ain’t It Cool News’s Capone (conducted at this year’s San Diego Comic Con). Check out this choice quote:

Capone: This might be a stupid question, but is there a lot of nudity in it?

SR: Yeah, there’s nudity in it. Katie Morgan is in it. She doesn’t own clothes [laughs].

Me and a friend were talking about Rogen not sounding very excited about the film recently, but this interview certainly disproves that theory. Maybe he’s just been so wrapped up in promoting Pineapple Express, which comes out today, that he hasn’t had time to even really think about Zack and Miri. Here’s hoping that his enthusiasm for the project continues to shine through in future interviews. Kevin and company need an excited and publicly visible star out there for them on this one. It’s going to take a lot to convince America to go watch Porno in a public place (we know they’ll do it in a private place, but that’s not the issue) and we need Rogen out there promoting the hell out of this one as we near the release.

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The Ins and Outs of Shooting Smut

News Askew has scored scans of an Empire Magazine feature on Zack and Miri Make a Porno that is chock full of interesting info on the upcoming flick. The sub-headline reads, “Kevin Smith explains the ins and outs of shooting smut,” and its his comments on the first sex scene they shot that were most amusing to me:

...Smith was eased into his first sex scene with a little help from a seasoned veteran and the director’s best buddy.

“I got really lucky, as the first two people we shot were Katie Morgan, who is an adult film star in her day job, and (Jason) Mewes, who was actually born to play this role.

“You’ll never find two people who are less inhibited than those two. Katie was like, ‘Anything we do here is gonna be tame compared to what I normally do,’ and Mewes is just a guy who spends most of his days air-fucking anyway. If I had two serious actors I’m sure it would have been uncomfortable, but with these two it was just like, ‘Okay, can you do this in this position?’ and they’re like, ‘Alright.’ And boy, did they make it seem believable.”

Mewes gets to have (simulated) sex with an actual porn star? Is this something that Kev promised Mewes (in addition to Clerks II) when he was trying to get the boy to kick his heroin habit? Because, if so: brilliant move, sir.

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