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Horror director talks about working with the U.S. ratings board on his cannibal movie.
Eli Roth screened his new cannibal movie The Green Inferno at Fantastic Fest this week, and afterwards spoke about his dealings with U.S. ratings board the MPAA. And it seems they have been very good about it, with the horror film getting an R-rating in the States.
Here’s what he had to say about those conversations and celluloid violence today in the post-screening Q&A, though we’ve removed one character name as it spoils one of the movie’s first kills.
“The ratings board is very cool. I had a great, great talk with the MPAA. They appreciated the inspection scene and the FGN [Female Genital Mutilation]. There’s only a little bit of nipple nudity. We talked about it and they said people aren’t going to see this movie expecting Despicable Me 2. They’re going to see a film that I’ve directed, they’re going to want to see something that’s harder than Hostel 2.
“If you look at the violence in movies lately – Evil Dead – it’s not even the zombie stuff. It’s that scene where you’re shooting nail-guns into hands and the chainsaw through the mouth for 30 seconds. That’s the template for what is acceptable violence right now. That is today’s R-rated movie. And yes you have The Conjuring, which is a totally different type of story. But people are paying for those moments.
“If you buy your ticket to Green Inferno, you want to see someone get eaten, and I spend a long time cock-teasing the audience before – Green Inferno character's name removed to avoid spoilers – death. I really want you to care about the characters and know the dynamics and be on the journey with them before we get into the gore. And Quentin [Tarantino] has had a similar experience – they know that my name on a horror movie is going to mean a certain thing and that’s what people are paying for.
“They were amazingly open-minded and cool about letting me make the movie I wanted to make. And I’ve never had that experience with any other organization in any other country. I feel like the MPAA understands you guys way better than you think. They know what the horror fans are paying to see, and it was very little back-and forth. It was a totally cool experience, and what you just saw was the R-rated cut.”
So while The Green Inferno doesn’t have a release date yet, it sounds like when it does, Eli’s vision will be making it to the screen untouched.
