That ‘R’ rating was a relief
It took a little tweaking to avoid an NC-17
An animated film about the secret world of food would seem like full-on family fun.
Unless it’s in the hands of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg.
The writing partners have collaborated on R-rated films ranging from This Is the End to Superbad. With Sausage Party they were determined to create the first R-rated computer-generated animated film ... with adorable food characters. Think Pixar through Rogen and Goldberg ’s raunchy lens.
In addition to frequent obscenity, there’s a stupendously drawn-
out food sex scene while a human character, Druggie (voiced by James Franco), shoots up bath salts and believes that food, even pizza, talks and feels terrible pain when consumed.
Sausage Party filmmakers knew they were going to have to wrestle with the Motion Picture Association of America to land the R rating (which is Restrictive and allows people under 17 with a parent or guardian). They needed to avoid pushing the film to the financially prohibitive NC-17 rating, which forbids people under 17 from attending.
Rogen and Goldberg found the task surprisingly easy after directors Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon handed the finished product into the MPAA.
“When I look at the movie, I am more shocked at what we were able to get away with rather than what we had to take out,” Rogen says.
Rogen recalls being disturbed on vacation when the ratings board initially rated the film NC-17. He worried that the film was going to be “butchered” with cuts. But by the next day, the issues had been worked out for the R rating. Even suggestive posters involving hot-dog shapes were approved for all audiences. “It was bizarrely cool.”
Goldberg has a theory on how the conversations went at the MPAA offices before the organization agreed to give the R rating.
“I’m convinced that they all got together and one guy said: ‘This is not for children. But it’s food, and it’s animated. It’s not people, it’s a cartoon. Let’s let it happen!’ “
The MPAA does not discuss its rating process publicly. But Ethan Noble, who runs Motion Picture Consulting, which works with producers and distributors to submit films to the MPAA, believes Goldberg has a point. Noble says Sausage Party had an advantage for the R rating over live-action films.
“The fact that this is a comedy, is animated and is food definitely helped their cause. They could be way more over-the-top with the sexuality, push the envelope,” Noble says. “It’s hard to show food items in such a sexual manner where it would feel really sexual ... as opposed to food in a comedy.”
Rogen estimates that 18 frames were cut from various shots. The biggest cut removed some body hairs from the character Lavash’s nether regions during the food sex scene. To keep its R rating, similar cuts were required during a graphic scene involving a demon in This Is the End in 2013.
“I would like to say, if anyone has a problem with an NC-17 rating, call us,” Goldberg says. “We’ll help ... for a nominal fee.”
“I am more shocked at what we were able to get away with rather than what we had to take out.” Seth Rogen