The number of expletives used in Bully, a documentary by Lee Hirsch, forced the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) to slap a Restricted rating on it. But now, Bully has a new ally. Harvey and Bob Weinstein from The Weinstein Company are appealing the rating, saying, “We have the utmost respect for NATO, but to suggest that the film Bully could ever be treated like an NC-17 film is completely unconscionable, not to mention unreasonable… we feel now is the time for the bullying epidemic to take center stage, we need to demand our community take action.” Despite the controversy, Hirsch firmly believes the language is important to telling the story.
In The Hollywood Reporter, he’s quoted as saying, “I made Bully for kids to see — the bullies as well as the bullied. We have to change hearts and minds in order to stop this epidemic which has scarred countless lives and driven many children to suicide. To capture the stark reality of bullying, we had to capture the way kids act and speak in their everyday lives — and the fact is that kids use profanity.” In Canada, Bully, which opens April 6, has been rated PG in Ontario, British Columbia and Manitoba. ~Rodrigo Cokting