The Weinstein Company has now lined up a team of their lawyers to challenge the MPAA’s NC-17 rating of “Blue Valentine” and R rating of “The King’s Speech.” TWC’s star legal team includes David Boies, the legal advisor on films, hard hitting celebrity and studio attorney Bert Fields, who will ramp up “The King’s Speech” appeal, and Alan R. Friedman, the chief attorney on “Blue Valentine.” “The King’s Speech” was rated R due to strong language, most used in instances when the film’s star Colin Firth tries to overcome his stuttering. “Blue Valentine” received the NC-17 rating due to a sexual scene between stars Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, who are attempting to save their rocky marriage.
Famed industry brothers Bob and Harvey Weinstein gained massive industry success with their creation of their company Miramax, which they later sold 80 percent of to Disney for around 100 million, with power still in the company as CEO’s. Five years ago, they launched The Weinstein Company. Their successes include The Thin Blue Line, Sex Lies and Videotape, and Pulp Fiction, among many more.
Producer Bruce Edwin states, “When one studies film history and the history of the rating system, they find that it included the origination of the MPAA that began with earlier incarnations including the Legion of Decency, which was partly run by Joseph Breen and the Catholic Church. It goes back to legislating morality, and attempting to control populaces by the limiting of or stopping of certain ideas and propagating others. The rating system is religio-political, and dictatorial in nature. I applaud The Weinstein’s in their bravery in standing up to the lopsided rating application of the MPAA.”
