Posted on 06/22/2004 9:39:50 AM PDT by COUNTrecount
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=entertainmentNews&storyID=5479295
Cuomo Blocked from 'Fahrenheit' Appeal Tue Jun 22, 2004 04:18 AM ET
By Ian Mohr
NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - The distribution team behind Michael Moore's hotly debated documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" will face the Motion Picture Assn. of America's (MPAA) ratings appeal board Tuesday without its newly hired legal eagle, former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo.
According to MPAA rules, Cuomo is not allowed to take part in the proceedings because those appearing before the board must be directly associated with the film.
"They have to be actively part of the creation and execution of the film, not a hired gun, who turns it into a trial," one source close to the situation said.
Without Cuomo by his side, Lions Gate Films president Tom Ortenberg -- whose company is distributing "Fahrenheit" with IFC Films and Miramax co-chairmen Bob and Harvey Weinstein's Fellowship Adventure Group -- will appeal for a PG-13 rating instead of the R that the MPAA has awarded "Fahrenheit" for its "violent and disturbing images and for language."
The film is slated to unspool before the MPAA at 10 a.m. in Los Angles, with a decision expected by the afternoon. The film opens exclusively in New York on Wednesday and rolls out nationally Friday.
In a letter to Ortenberg and IFC's Jonathan Sehring, Cuomo wrote Monday that he was "surprised and disappointed by the MPAA's decision to prevent (him) from arguing (the) appeal in person."
"(MPAA ratings board chair Joan Graves) was forthcoming and cooperative," Cuomo said in the letter. "She informed us that the (R) rating was based on: the use of the term 'mother____' by an American soldier, twice in repeating the words of a favorite song of the American soldiers in Iraq, and then twice again in his conversation immediately following the description of the song. Later in the film, there are several graphic images of victims of war and abusive behavior by some of our troops."
Cuomo, who had been in talks with Graves and Ortenberg since he came aboard the "Fahrenheit" team last week, goes on to write: "Altogether the hard language and graphic pictures consume about 3 minutes in a film lasting 120 minutes."
Cuomo's letter further states that the distributors already have rejected an MPAA offer of a PG-13 rating in exchange for snipping "the few minutes of material."
Meanwhile, a dispute is raging between left-wing backers of Moore's work and a right-wing group seeking the film's suppression.
After Ortenberg said last week that "Fahrenheit" would be released on "between 500-1,000 screens," a conservative Web site, http://www.MoveAmericaForward.org, said "only 417 theaters would show the film -- and most of those are poorly attended 'art house' theaters." But Monday, the liberal advocacy group http://www.MoveOn.org shot back, saying that the film was now set to debut on "750 theaters across the country this Friday." The group said it "will hold media events in several battleground states," including Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Missouri, Iowa, Nevada and Oregon, to support "Fahrenheit."
IFC Entertainment president Sehring said Monday that the distributors will have a "hard number" available Tuesday as to how many theaters will carry "Fahrenheit."
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
Pesky, pesky rules. Watch the libs change the rules in the middle of the game.
Yes indeed, he hired Mario Cuomo as he legal eagle.
I'm surprised Mario is trying so hard to inject himself into this issue. If Hitch's review of the film is at all accurate, then the usually-politically-wiser-than-this Mario will lower his historical stock even further. Maybe he's prematurely entering that senility that sadly gripped Goldwater in his final years?
I saw Cuomo shilling for this movie on MSNBC a couple days ago. He wanted people to see this movie so we could have a genuine debate on Iraq policy.
It is sad to see how low he has sunk in recent years.
When you see how far left defeated Democrats move after their big loss; Carter, Gore, Cuomo, it is little frightening. Did they move left out of bitterness or were they that far left all along and hid it.
Seeing Gore rant in front of a borderline Communist group like moveon.org, you wonder how close he really was to an actual Communist and his family’s chief financial backer Armand Hammer.
Liberals whining....dog bites man....film at eleven.
That is something I have been wondering myself. Is Algore and the rest getting more whacked out and communistic, or have they been hiding it so as to appeal to more of the public. There are lefties, and there are left-wing extremists.
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