'Not One Frame' Of Prometheus Will Be Cut Says Tom Rothman

[xii22loop]

OMGGGGGGGG never thought I'd hear that come from TOM ROTHMAN, the man who's ruined so many Fox movies (most notably X3/X-men The Last Stand).    Is he personal friends with Ridley Scott or something, cause this is so uncharacteristic of The Tom Rothman every X-men fan is familiar with.

[Ash 937]

He says that they won't compromise a frame a Prometheus for the rating board but if the orders to Ridley were to shoot the film with a PG-13 rating in mind, then it will probably be PG-13 in all likelihood.  Or if the MPAA does brand it with an R rating at all, it would still be a very "weak" R-rating imo.

[First Blood]

They may not cut scenes but they sure as hell can tone down the movie in post-production via CG and digital manipulation. Just look at how the trailers have changed over time. Things have been added or redone. I am not going to take his word for it just yet.

[OpenMaw]

They may not cut scenes but they sure as hell can tone down the movie in post-production via CG and digital manipulation. Just look at how the trailers have changed over time. Things have been added or redone. I am not going to take his word for it just yet.

Indeed. This smells more like wordplay than anything.

"Not one frame was CUT... We just took the CGI blood out! HAW HAW."

[evolution_rex]

I have a bad feeling about making it an R rating. I personally don't care, but I know that it won't benefit the film makers if they're worried about making money. They'll loose some of their audience. The film is still guaranteed as a success, but they'll make more money if it's PG-13.

There are two reasons to make films, however. There's the common reason, and that is to make lots of money. The other reason it because they see it as an art form, and they just want to make their masterpiece. Whenever a painter wants to make his masterpiece, he tries to make the painting as close to his envisions as possible, regardless if everyone else likes it. Scott should be able to do the same thing. If he wants his film to have certain scenes, it should have those scenes. It's his film. Unfortunately, the film industry doesn't work that way.

[RoaryUK]

I wouldn't trust this slimy suit for crap. Sounds like he's just saying what we want to hear. I hope against everything it's an R, but it still doesn't seem likely.

I don't trust him either.  Besides we've all heard about the R-rated blu-ray version, even Scott himself has mentioned it, so why change things so late in the day.  Rothman is just trying it on for me!

[ThisBethesdaSea]

I can imagine what's happened is that Rothman told Scott 'make a PG-13 cut' and if that cut is given an R rating by the MPAA, then so be it.

[Game_Over_Man]

Its being advertised as 15 (TBC) at BFI Imax London

[eyesofthedemon]

PG 13 all the way imo,i'll be very surprised if its R,hope i'm wrong.

I don't demand gore etc but i think with an R film your covered to do want you want with very few restrictions,less hard choices to make etc,anything lower and you are always stunted in your options.

PG 13 can work with a scary movie though,numerous examples through the years BUT this is in the Alien universe so i think it should be R/18

[Bat Chain Puller]

I don't trust Rothman. He's a snakeoil salesman that would sell his own mother. Definatly the type that would f**k one over a goddamned percentage. 

That being said. I hope it's not the language/gore factor that push it into R territory. I don't want to see Dr. Manhattan Jockeys 'exploding humans' in a burst of bloody viscera. What will make this film scary will be how Ridley portrays that sicking feeling of suddenly being outmatched by a God. The possibilities are mind-bending for how this will play out. It will be down to the performances of the actors.

Has a film ever been rated for mature audience based solely on an unsettling, ultra disturbing performance and or theme?

[Virgil]

Has a film ever been rated for mature audience based solely on an unsettling, ultra disturbing performance and or theme?

Arguably 'The Exorsist'. But even that has one very infamous sequence. 

[Vickers]

All I know is, if Prometheus is PG-13, it's going to affect my anticipation greatly.  R isn't just about blood and guts and sex.  The fact is, with a PG-13 rating, filmmakers are far more restricted and won't be able to achieve the same atmosphere as they could with an R rating.

[OpenMaw]

All I know is, if Prometheus is PG-13, it's going to affect my anticipation greatly.  R isn't just about blood and guts and sex.  The fact is, with a PG-13 rating, filmmakers are far more restricted and won't be able to achieve the same atmosphere as they could with an R rating.

Please explain how.

[Cvalda]

Please explain how.

The MPAA has no set standards. They can give a film a rating for whatever they feel like. A film can be free of gore, onscreen sex and a certain amount of cursing and still get an R if its tone is sufficiently dark or intense.

Edit: or if it features gayness. That really riles up the MPAA.

[Vickers]

All I know is, if Prometheus is PG-13, it's going to affect my anticipation greatly.  R isn't just about blood and guts and sex.  The fact is, with a PG-13 rating, filmmakers are far more restricted and won't be able to achieve the same atmosphere as they could with an R rating.

Please explain how.

Gladly.  Take any scene in an R-rated film where the situation is intense and stressful.  A character might do something or say something or express something as a natural reaction an adult would have in that situation.  The scene is a collection of moments with a frightening tone to it.  But along comes the MPAA:

"OMG! Let's remove all the bad words. There was a glimpse of nudity in that scene and it wasn't pornographic but everybody knows that nudity is worse than violence right?  I don't like how scary that scene was, it would probably be too scary for kids and give them nightmares.  Let's tone that scene down and make it less intense.  Oh, and that scream went on for a little too long, so maybe cut it down to about 5 seconds.  Hmmm, what else can we mess with because we feel like it?"

That's the MPAA for you.  Watch a documentary called "This Film is Not Yet Rated."  It's from 2006 but still extremely relevant to how the MPAA operates.  1 or 2 insignificant cuts might not affect a film but a collection of cuts can greatly affect the tone of a film.  And it doesn't even have to be curse words or nudity.  If they feel a scene is too intense, they can mess it up.