‘Infinity Pool’ director fights off NC-17 label
Horror flick showing orgy changed rating with aid of tiny cuts, film-board whisperer
To fans of Brandon Cronenberg, a director of grisly horror movies, an NC-17 rating from the Motion Picture Association is cause for excitement: What new forms of mutilation does this provocateur have in store?
But to a filmmaker looking for a wide theatrical release — as Cronenberg was for “Infinity Pool”
— the rating is the kiss of death.
By definition, NC-17 simply means that no one 17 or younger can be admitted, but in practice, there are more restrictions. Only a limited number of U.S. theaters will show the film, and buying advertising becomes a challenge.
Last year, the kiss was bestowed on “Infinity Pool,” a Sundance premiere starring Alexander Skarsgard and Mia Goth that deals liberally in sex and gore. Cronenberg had four options: Accept the NC-17 rating (for “some graphic violence and sexual content”); opt out of the ratings system entirely, risking some of the same consequences; formally appeal the decision; or edit the movie down to an R, as many directors have done.
He first decided to go back to the editing room, setting up a familiar Hollywood dance between artistic independence and a desire for commercial success.
“It’s always fixable because you can always cut things,” Cronenberg said in a recent interview. “Whether it’s fixable in a way that you’re happy with is another question.”
What followed was months of trimming, swapping, obscuring and negotiating,
all in the hopes that an edited version would strike the Motion Picture Association’s board of raters as less, well, disgusting. To improve its chances, the film’s distributor, Neon, brought on a consultant, Ethan Noble, who specializes in helping films escape unwanted ratings and guiding them through the formal appeal process.
In the end, the quirks of the American ratings system have set up an odd reality in which the film that premiered at Sundance in late January — receiving praise from critics and generating social media chatter — is not the exact same film playing on 1,800 screens in North America.
Sundance attendees who were at least 18 saw the original edit, including a close-up shot of Skarsgard’s character ejaculating. But moviegoers at the neighborhood theater will see the cut that ultimately scored an R from the Classification and Rating Administration, the section of the MPA that reviews movies and advertising.
To Cronenberg and Tom Quinn, Neon’s chief executive,
the battle for the R rating on “Infinity Pool” exemplifies a system that can be a prolonged headache for filmmakers who employ graphic imagery but don’t want to sacrifice a wide theatrical release.
The entertainment landscape is also starkly different from the one in 1990, when NC-17 replaced the X rating. Streaming services have ended up with more freedom to choose whether to work within the bureaucracy of the MPA’s system or bypass it, said Quinn.
Many movies available on services like HBO Max or Netflix have an MPA rating, but the companies can also operate under the separate TV Parental Guidelines system, where titles are self-rated — a more permissive structure, despite the fact that it’s easier for a teenager to pick up a remote than buy a ticket for an adults-only movie at the theater.
“Frankly, anything at home is more readily available,” Quinn said. “There’s a complete disconnect here, and the MPA should be in a position of being far more progressive, far
more advanced, than any at-home rating system.”
It’s possible that change is coming.
Noble, a former Miramax executive, said Kelly McMahon, chair of the ratings administration, told him last year that the group was continuing to explore the possibility of adding a rating between R and NC-17. The new rating would, in theory, allow films to include more mature content while avoiding the taboo of the NC-17, said Noble.
The MPA declined to comment on the concept of a new rating or on the ratings process behind “Infinity Pool,” citing restrictions on discussing specific films.
Established in 1968 by Jack Valenti, the Motion Picture Association’s rating system has long been positioned as a better alternative to government censorship or a complete lack of parental guidance.
The trade group employs a board of parents who are tasked with rating a movie “the way a majority of American parents from across the country would rate it,” as the chair of the system has explained it.
The most recent reclassification took place in 1990, when the association stopped using the X rating, following a letter from prominent directors calling the system “outdated and unfair.” Because the association did not have a trademark for the rating, pornographers used it as a promotional lure, making it synonymous with that industry to many people.
In its place, the group introduced NC-17.
Of thousands of films released in the subsequent three decades, only 92 have ended up with an NC-17 rating, according to the group’s online database.
Nearly half of those were released in the first five years of the NC-17 rating. Since then, its prominence has faded, with only two NC-17 movies in the past five years.
The son of horror film director David Cronenberg, whose movie “Crash” received an NC-17 in 1996, Brandon Cronenberg was already familiar with pushing the boundaries of the ratings system.
Cronenberg hoped that a few simple edits on “Infinity Pool” would appease the board, which for his film consisted of eight raters and McMahon.
A commentary on wealth inequality, masculinity and death, “Infinity Pool” follows a thrill-seeking novelist, played by Skarsgard, who falls prey to the hedonism of a group of tourists at a luxury resort.
One aspect of the board’s initial feedback was clear, Cronenberg said: An R-rated film simply could not show ejaculation.
So Cronenberg edited the scene between Skarsgard and Goth, who plays an enticing but ultimately deranged hedonist.
“Everything else was essentially tweaks,” Cronenberg said, noting that he edited down the number of stabs in one particularly gruesome encounter. “Trimming the violence here and there, and swapping a few shots in the orgy scene.”
As the filmmakers went back and forth with the ratings board over changes, Cronenberg eventually reached his limit. The filmmakers then took the NC-17 to the appeals stage, which involves a separate board of film industry professionals and a representative from the National Parent Teacher Association, who are joined by two nonvoting observers from religious groups and one from a nonprofit organization that analyzes gender in media.
Cronenberg knew that it was unlikely he would prevail. According to data the MPA released in 2018, 1.4% of the films it had rated over 50 years had been appealed, and just over a third of those appeals were successful.
He went forward anyway, and in October, Cronenberg put his film on trial. He and Noble delivered an argument explaining why they thought the movie should be rated R, comparing its mature material with that of R-rated horror movies like “Spiral” and last year’s “Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” McMahon and a senior rater defended their decision.
In a tie vote, the board decision fell short of a victory for Cronenberg. A successful appeal requires two-thirds support.
After the loss, Cronenberg said, he made a few more slight edits — including adding some glitchiness to the orgy scene — resubmitted it and, voila! Rated R for “graphic violence, disturbing material, strong sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use and some language.”
“I think at that point,” the director said, “they felt we had sort of met them on their terms.”