MPAA clarifies transgender drama '3 Generations' rating dilemma
UPDATE: An MPAA spokesperson has reached out to EW with clarification on 3 Generations‘ new rating.
“This film has gone through all of the regular procedures outlined in CARA’s rules. While we cannot discuss the process for a particular film due to a confidentiality agreement, we can confirm that TWC has accepted the PG-13 rating for the last version of 3 Generations screened by CARA,” the group’s Chris Ortman says. “While we regularly meet with a wide range of organizations to discuss the rating system, no outside groups have any influence on the rating process. Each film is rated by a team of raters, who are themselves parents, in order to serve CARA’s purpose of providing information to parents about viewing choices for their children.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film was resubmitted with several content edits in an effort to attain its new PG-13 rating, information EW has since confirmed.
EARLIER: The Weinstein Company and the Motion Picture Association of America have come to an agreement on the latter’s decision giving the upcoming transgender drama 3 Generations an R rating.
Directed by Gaby Dellal and starring Naomi Watts, Elle Fanning, and Susan Sarandon, 3 Generations — about a trans teen who seeks approval from his protective mother to begin hormone treatments — will be released as a PG-13 after the distributor’s public appeal to the MPAA’s initial designation.
Weinstein’s public campaign against the industry organization — which began in early April — gained traction with GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis, who wrote an open letter protesting the MPAA’s initial evaluation of the project in addition to launching a change.org petition (sponsored by Blair Durkee, a trans student and social activist) that went on to receive around 35,000 signatures since its April 19 debut.
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“3 Generations is a film that all families should be able to see,” Kate said of the MPAA’s move via press release. “When audiences around the world meet transgender teen Ray and see the love that his family shows him, it will not only send a powerful message to LGBTQ youth, but to families of all types. The MPAA made the right decision and once again The Weinstein Company dared to tell culture-changing LGBTQ stories that Hollywood too often shies away from.”
Initially slated for release in September 2015 following its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, the film was abruptly pulled from Weinstein’s slate, with Dellal later embarking on a two-month period of re-editing to refine it.
The new cut had initially received its R rating for containing language and some sexual references. Pictures that earn the label contain “some adult material,” while “parents are urged to learn more about the film before taking their young children with them,” per the MPAA’s website.
“The script felt like a story that was a necessary one to be told. It’s about how we were all transitioning into this new world and how we’re struggling with how we do this comfortably and stick together as a family,” Watts previously told EW of the film. “So much about being a parent is about getting out of their way at the same time as being in charge of their health, their safety, and those simple things in the beginning and imparting good values. It is about releasing them into the world. Who are we to try and define them?”
3 Generations hits theaters in New York and Los Angeles May 5, with expansion to follow on May 12.
