In a press release issued by Sony Pictures Classics, Co-President Tom Bernard addressed the board's decision. "We really think the ratings board has got to get with the program and get with the future What's needed is a hard R rating to distinguish the quality films like 'Young Adam' and 'The Dreamers' from 'Debbie Does Dallas' or any other porn movie."
Bernard added, "Basically, what you're doing is giving signals to the audience and the MPAA is giving a negative signal right now. The way it stands, how can an audience distinguish what's art from what's hardcore smut? Audiences avoid the picture because of this rating."
"Young Adam" isn't the first film distributed by Sony Pictures Classics to earn a controversial NC-17 rating. The MPAA ratings board has a history of handling films with sexual content more strictly than they would one which features violence. Gregor Nicholas, the writer/director of "Broken English" - the other NC-17 film from Sony Pictures Classics - was quoted as saying back in 1997 when saddled with an NC-17 rating: "there is something wrong with the system which tells us that exposure to acts of violence will leave young audiences untainted while exposure to acts of love will somehow corrupt them."
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Ewan McGregor and Tilda Swinton star in "Young Adam," which was directed by David McKenzie.
