Netflix Marilyn Movie Gets NC-17 Rating

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Mark Jeffries

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Mar 26, 2022, 3:29:54 PM3/26/22
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"Blonde," the Netflix adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates' novelization of the life of Marilyn Monroe starring Ana de Armas as Marilyn, has picked up the scarlet "adults only" rating from the MPA, the first film made for a streamer with that rating:


The possibility of a limited run in theaters may not be much of a problem in this case, since the major theater chains don't touch NC-17 films with a fork lift and won't book Netflix films, while the mostly independent arthouse circuit will.  Besides, the big audience will be when it hits The Service.

Tom Wolper

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Mar 26, 2022, 6:52:50 PM3/26/22
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I find this story the way it’s reported to be confounding. Here’s what I understand about movie ratings:

Originally each state had a censorship board and each film had to be submitted to each one and then cuts would have to be made in order for the film to be distributed to theaters. As Hollywood grew to the point that they couldn’t continue the system they set up a national production code and an office in Hollywood to enforce it. The production code process lost its teeth in the early sixties with lots of foreign films and independent films coming into the market. The successor they came up with was the ratings system. A filmmaker submits their script to the MPAA office, is told the rating, and what they would have to change if they want a different rating.

Mature films got an X rating. With court decisions striking down obscenity statutes, mainstream theaters started showing hardcore porn movies with the X rating. Major theater chains decided not to show any X rated movies, even serious adult themed ones. Same with newspapers and the ads they’d accept. So the MPAA came up with NC-17 which was supposed to differentiate from porn but it got caught up in the same embargo.

In practical terms if a studio submits a script and is told it will get an NC-17 rating they ask what changes they need to make to get an R rating for distribution.

Netflix doesn’t need to submit a film for a rating in order to stream it and if wide theater distribution meant anything to them they’d make the changes to get it to an R. And art houses will gladly accept unrated movies.

What confounds me is why Netflix bothered to submit the script for a rating in the first place.

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Kevin M.

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Mar 26, 2022, 6:58:38 PM3/26/22
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A while back, filmmaker and occasional pot smoker Kevin Smith penned an essay about the MPAA that a quick Google search did not unearth, but I recall him explaining the process including the appeals for several of his films. 

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Tom Wolper

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Mar 26, 2022, 8:13:10 PM3/26/22
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Kirby Dick made a documentary a few years ago called This Film is Not Yet Rated where he went into the history of the ratings system and the opaque way it is implemented. He found lots of arbitrary decisions.

Adam Bowie

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Mar 26, 2022, 8:15:45 PM3/26/22
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I have to concur with Tom that this makes little to no sense. 

I know that they have cinemas in New York and Los Angeles, so could it be that they need MPAA certificates to get into even just those theatres? In the UK, a few Netflix films get short cinema runs in some of the arthouse chains (and I always wonder if Netflix gives incentives to those chains to play the films). But even then, the titles that get these releases are the awards hopefuls that Netflix usually saves up for later in the year. Those films do need certification in the UK under the BBFC, which these days tends to be more concerned with violence and sexual violence than more than anything. I think only film clubs, not open to the paying public can show unrated films.

There was a good documentary a few years ago called This Film Is Not Yet Rated which tore apart the US movie ratings scheme and noted the inequities between hetero and homosexual deptictions resulting in different ratings.

[Just before I hit send I saw Tom's reply...] Snap!

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Tom Wolper

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Mar 26, 2022, 8:31:13 PM3/26/22
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The cinemas in New York and Los Angeles won’t show NC-17 films. The ones that will would also show them unrated. It’s possible they’re using the adult rating as a selling point.

Kevin M.

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Mar 26, 2022, 8:41:46 PM3/26/22
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The only NC-17 rated film I remember seeing was Showgirls… and I wish I could forget I ever saw it. I believe in that instance the rating was more of a stunt than a viewer advisory. There was less nudity and less sex in that than in other (better) movies with an R rating. 

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Jim Ellwanger

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Mar 26, 2022, 10:13:23 PM3/26/22
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The major chains that have theaters in New York and L.A. may not show NC-17 films, but independent theaters and smaller chains (such as Laemmle in the L.A. area) generally have no problem with NC-17 or unrated films.


Tom Wolper

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Mar 28, 2022, 1:56:06 PM3/28/22
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On Sat, Mar 26, 2022 at 10:13 PM Jim Ellwanger <trai...@ellwanger.tv> wrote:
The major chains that have theaters in New York and L.A. may not show NC-17 films, but independent theaters and smaller chains (such as Laemmle in the L.A. area) generally have no problem with NC-17 or unrated films.

I remain confused about what Netflix has done. They "made" a movie to be streamed on their platform. They don't have to submit a script to the MPAA for a rating. Yet they do and they receive the most restrictive rating which studios don't want for their movies. And they announce they are not going to make changes to get an R rating.

As an aside, the article says the rating comes from a rape that appeared in the novel. I appreciate staying true to the source material even if it means taking a hit with the film's rating. I can't understand why Hollywood doesn't remake the movies based on Tennessee Williams plays. The movies were made during the Production Code and they got twisted into shallowness by having to give up or dance around key elements. On the DVD of A Streetcar Named Desire there's a short where Karl Malden talks about all of the problems Kazan had with the Breen office (enforcers of the Production Code).

Bob Jersey

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Aug 31, 2022, 3:00:03 PM8/31/22
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Star (onetime Bond goil) Ana de Armas, echoing earlier comments by director Andrew Dominik, hissed the rating, suggesting (not elaborating) to a French fashion mag that "a number of shows or movies that are way more explicit with a lot more sexual content" are out there...
Tom Wolper, to Jim Ellwanger, March 28th:

Brad Beam

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Aug 31, 2022, 5:55:41 PM8/31/22
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From: 'Bob Jersey' via TVorNotTV [mailto:tvor...@googlegroups.com]

>Star (onetime Bond goil) Ana de Armas, echoing earlier comments by director Andrew Dominik, hissed the rating, suggesting (not elaborating) to a French fashion mag that "a number of shows or movies that are way more explicit with a lot more sexual content" are out there...

Seeing that TV-specific shows aren’t rated on a movie scale: If “Euphoria” [TV-MA] were shown at my local Regal Cineplex instead, would it be rated R or NC-17?

Mark Jeffries

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Aug 31, 2022, 6:27:20 PM8/31/22
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R.  There's no equivalent in TV ratings to NC-17--and besides, the three biggest theater chains will not back NC-17 films.

Mark Jeffries
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Bob Jersey

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Sep 1, 2022, 7:51:18 AM9/1/22
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IYC, here's an apparent parent's analysis of Euphoria: https://lolalambchops.com/euphoria-kid-friendly-parents-guide/ (link, borderline-NSFW)     B

Mark Jeffries, to Brad Beam, Aug 31st:
R.  There's no equivalent in TV ratings to NC-17--and besides, the three biggest theater chains will not back NC-17 films.

Tom Wolper

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Sep 12, 2022, 1:31:15 PM9/12/22
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I finally got my answer to why Netflix submitted the movie for a rating: they want it to get Oscar consideration.


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Mark Jeffries

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Sep 12, 2022, 3:11:45 PM9/12/22
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And like they do their Oscar bait, Netflix will put it in theaters for a limited run at Landmark and the regional and indie arthouses.  Cinemark has shown the more mainstream Netflix originals at their theaters, but I think they'll pass on this one--and so will AMC and Regal.  When asked for comment, Nicole Kidman said, "Heartbreak feels good in a place like this."

Mark Jeffries
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Tom Wolper

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Sep 12, 2022, 4:38:41 PM9/12/22
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If they put it in one theater in New York and one in Los Angeles for one day or whatever the minimum requirement for Oscar eligibility is, I wouldn’t be surprised. They’re not looking to recoup the cost of the film through theater tickets.

Jim Ellwanger

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Sep 12, 2022, 5:03:37 PM9/12/22
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In general, for Oscar eligibility, a movie has to be shown for seven consecutive days for paid admission in the same commercial movie theater, with screenings at least three times daily, one of which must be between 6:00 and 10:00 P.M. (except if it's a drive-in, in which case only one screening daily is required), in only one of the following places: Los Angeles County; New York City (anywhere in the five boroughs); Cook County, Illinois; Fulton County, Georgia; Miami-Dade County, Florida; or the Bay Area (anywhere in San Francisco, Marin, Alameda, San Mateo, or Contra Costa counties). It can be made available for streaming the same day it first shows in theaters, but not before.

In practice, as Mark indicated, this means Netflix's Oscar-bait films regularly play for at least a week in New York and Los Angeles. And to be clear, AMC and Regal wouldn't specifically pass on "Blonde" due to the NC-17 rating, but because they will usually only play movies if the exclusive theatrical window lasts longer than what the streamers usually offer. (That said, the streamers will sometimes negotiate for exceptions -- I saw "Being the Ricardos" at the AMC Burbank 16, and that one only had an 11-day theatrical exclusive.)



PGage

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Sep 12, 2022, 5:37:32 PM9/12/22
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Tangential Footnote: 
There is inherent ambiguity, debate and acrimony over which counties make up “The Bay Area”. Most technically I believe there are 9 Bay Area Counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, Sonoma and Napa. See for example: 


However, often the last two or three of those 9 get left off the list (and the three North Bay counties did deal with COVID restrictions a little differently than the other six, leading to some confusion). 

Jim has also left out the southernmost county, Santa Clara, which also has some precedent. The 5 on his list are probably the most prototypically “Bay Area-ish”, though I don’t think you will find them listed in any legally binding document as constituting the Bay Area.

As you say, typically they show a film in Manhattan and the West side of LA for a week or two to qualify for Oscar, but my local, independent theater (Northern Napa County) does often screen Netflix and Amazon films (I will monitor whether she will do an NC-17), so wondering idly if that would qualify for Oscar, or if we are not Bay Area enough.


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Jim Ellwanger

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Sep 12, 2022, 5:40:17 PM9/12/22
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I was using the Academy's definition of "the Bay Area" -- see Rule Two, part 2(c): https://www.oscars.org/sites/oscars/files/95th_oscars_complete_rules.pdf


PGage

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Sep 12, 2022, 5:55:43 PM9/12/22
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So, that’s a “No” for my little neighborhood theater helping out Netflix.

That rule is a little like saying NYC qualifies, but excluding Brooklyn. [Probably more like excluding Staten Island, but I feel like Napa Valley is more hip than that).

David Bruggeman

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Sep 12, 2022, 6:27:29 PM9/12/22
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It's possible that the Academy is working with what the Census Bureau defines as a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) rather than the larger combined statistical area (CSA).

The Bay Area has two MSAs - San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley and San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara.  The Academy's Bay Area definition comprises the same counties as the San Francisco MSA. 

The CSA for the Bay Area is even larger than the 9 counties that PGage listed.  It covers 14 counties, including some in the Central Valley, which strikes me as a little weird (I live in Sacramento).

David

PGage

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Sep 12, 2022, 6:43:06 PM9/12/22
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I did consider that, but I have not seen the SF MSA referred to as “The Bay Area”. That SF-Oakland-Berkeley MSA seems to me to be more like “Greater San Francisco Area”. 

This site specifically describes the SF-Oak-Berk MSA as a subset of the 9 County Bay Area:


JW

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Sep 13, 2022, 5:18:29 AM9/13/22
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> I did consider that, but I have not seen the SF MSA referred to as “The Bay
> Area”. That SF-Oakland-Berkeley MSA seems to me to be more like “Greater
> San Francisco Area”.
>
> This site specifically describes the SF-Oak-Berk MSA as a subset of the 9
> County Bay Area:
>

If the Academy chooses to define "the Bay Area" as San Francisco, Oakland, Tampa and St. Petersburg for the purpose of Oscar eligibility, that's their privilege. It doesn't necessarily have anything to do with anyone else's definition.
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