Remember the battle of wills Harvey Weinstein engaged in with the MPAA over the ratings for Blue Valentine and The King's Speech, in which he decried making any changes just to meet ridiculous double standards that allow leniency for severed dicks but none for attached breasts? Well, that was a necessary war about ideals—but when it comes to getting more people to see The King’s Speech, ideals are just obstacles standing between Weinstein and a bigger U.S. box-office take, so now Weinstein is considering having director Tom Hooper recut the film to a more family-friendly PG-13 or even PG rating. But, uh, this time it's a marketing choice, not a draconian edict, so we guess it's different?
Of course, much of the reason The King’s Speech is rated R in the first place has to do with a single string of cathartic profanities unleashed by Colin Firth’s stuttering king—a scene perhaps even more crucial to the characterization than Blue Valentine’s much-debated oral sex session, yet Weinstein says he and Hooper are already looking at a “unique way” to work around it. Like maybe Firth is overdubbed with Julie Andrews singing “Do-Re-Mi”! And his lips are CGIed so instead of vulgarities, he issues forth a stream of cartoon hearts! Or most likely, it just disappears. However he does it, Weinstein is hoping this edit will help him duplicate the film’s success in Britain—where a much more rational 12-and-over rating has been attracting families—as well as bring in “common folk" who normally wouldn’t go for a stuffy historical drama about a British king. Well, then taking out the swears should do the trick.