An impassioned plea by Harvey Weinstein, including a detailed description he gave of sex scenes in other movies, persuaded the MPAA to unanimously overturn its restrictive NC-17 rating of “Blue Valentine” in favor of an R.
The MPAA’s original NC-17 rating was based on an oral sex scene between a married couple played by Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams. But Weinstein yesterday convinced the panel it was unfair by citing steamier scenes from other movies that were rated R.
At the meeting in Los Angeles, Weinstein brought along clips and descriptions of graphic sex scenes between Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone in “Basic Instinct” and between Viggo Mortensen and Maria Bello in “A History of Violence.”
He also presented a notarized dossier of comments from 260 adults who watched “Blue Valentine” in Kansas City on Tuesday night, 80 percent of whom voted for an R rating.
Following Weinstein’s plea, MPAA officials voted 14 to 0 to give “Valentine” an R. An NC-17 rating bars admission to those under 17, killing the box office. No NC-17 film has ever won a major prize at the Oscars.
Weinstein Company chief operating officer David Glasser told us, “Harvey, in detail, described both dialogue and scenes from ‘Basic Instinct’ and ‘History of Violence,’ while he had clips prepared from ‘Boys Don’t Cry,’ ‘Monster’s Ball,’ ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ and ‘Hostel: Part II.’ ” Glasser added, “This wasn’t about money, this was about preserving the integrity of the film.”
Weinstein jetted to LA after screening “Blue Valentine” in New York on Tuesday, when actor Gosling sparked rumors by hanging out with newly single Blake Lively at the after-party at the Standard Hotel.
A source said, “Blake sneaked into the screening as the lights went down and left the party with Ryan. They then went for dinner to the Standard Grill with friends and dined on oysters.” Lively’s rep didn’t get back to us.