Shame, a candid and powerful look at sexual addiction from director Steve McQueen (no, another Steve McQueen) is out in limited release tomorrow, and as we reported last month, it’s going out with the NC-17 rating—no children under 17 admitted, under any circumstances. The rating, many have surmised, is due to the film’s copious male nudity, and that’s how the American ratings system works: all the naked ladies you want, but the erect male member= automatic NC-17.

The rating was initiated by the MPAA back in 1990, and was intended to be an alternative to the porn-stained (if you’ll pardon the pun) X rating; NC-17 movies, like Henry & June (the inaugural film to carry the rating), Bad Lieutenant, The Dreamers, and Lust, Caution would be for adults, by adults. But it quickly became the kiss of death for filmmakers and distributors. Just as with the X rating before it, newspapers and television outlets wouldn’t carry ads for NC-17 films, while larger theatrical chains and home video outlets refused to carry them. Smaller films would take the mark or (as Kids and Happiness did) go out unrated, while the editing process for big releases became something of a con game: if a film was rated NC-17, the distributor would make the trims necessary for an R-rating, enjoy the publicity, and then restore the cut material for the inevitable “unrated” DVD release (frequently carried by the very chains that refused to stock NC-17 films). By the late 1990s, studios wouldn’t even bother with the first step, cranking out unrated versions of raunchy comedies and adult thrillers as a standard step in their home video release plans.

While the politics of who gets an R and who doesn’t are shady at best (check out the terrific documentary This Film is Not Yet Rated), we can’t help but wonder about what would have happened if the NC-17 could have been what its creators wanted it to be. Fox Searchlight’s decision to release Shame with the scarlet letters/numbers has prompted another round of “will the NC-17 finally become respectable?” questions (answer: dubious), but what if that question weren’t necessary, because the NC-17 had never been stigmatized? Had that been the case, we might have seen the uncut movies we’ve assembled after the jump. Read More »

Brad Pitt is the latest Hollywood star to threaten to leave the spotlight and has given a three-year timetable to make his exit. The actor — fresh off some stellar reviews for his role in Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life — wants to adopt more of a producer’s role. “I am really enjoying the producing side and development of stories and putting those pieces together. Getting stories to the plate that might have had a tougher times otherwise,” he recently told Australia’s 60 Minutes. Pitt’s already found his place in the producer’s chair, working behind-the-scenes on Malick’s movie and past efforts like The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, as well as the upcoming World War Z and Steve McQueen’s Twelve Years a Slave. It’s hard to imagine a Hollywood without the likable actor. If he does follow through on his word, we hope he’ll still make an appearance every so often. History proves, however, that the acting bug is a pesky one and most screen stars renege on their promises to quit for good. Click past the break for a history of other actors that wanted to say goodbye. Read More »

Well, that was fast. According to Deadline, Nicole Kidman has acquired the rights to Kevin Wilson’s off-kilter (and bestselling!) debut novel, The Family Fang, which was one of our favorite books of the summer. In it, the children of two out-there performance artists, who have spent their lives being sucked into their parents’ weird schemes, try to navigate away from the twisted, real-but-not-real world they’ve been offered their entire lives, but still manage to get caught up in what might be their parents’ final, devastating act. It’s funny, original, and well worth making a film for, though we have to say we didn’t quite expect one — bestseller or no, the novel is no Spiderman, and if the film maintains the book’s epic weirdness, we’re not sure about its potential for mass appeal (not that that’s a bad thing). But perhaps we should have known — when we read it back in August, we looked up after about thirty pages and said, ‘this is just a Wes Anderson movie as a novel.’ Just a suggestion, Nicole.

Earlier this week, we gave you a sneak peek at the gorgeous photos Annie Leibovitz shot of Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe for the October issue of Vogue, in support of her upcoming role as the sex symbol in My Week with Marilyn. We think Williams is pretty convincing as Monroe, and without having seen the film yet, we’re betting on her as one of the best. But the photographs got us to thinking about the other faux-Marilyns who have graced the big and small screen, to varying success. Click through to see some of the most prominent examples, and let us know who played her best in the comments.

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Welcome to “Trailer Park,” our regular Friday feature where we collect the week’s new trailers all in one place and do a little “judging a book by its cover,” ranking them from worst to best and taking our best guess at what they may be hiding. This week, we’ve got a surplus of thrillers, plus a legal drama and vibrator comedy. So, variety, eh? Check ‘em all out after the jump.

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[Editor's note: Welcome to the second installment of our new Friday feature The Fug Report! Each week our fashion blogger friends Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan, the sartorial geniuses behind Go Fug Yourself, will feature some of their favorite looks of the week in this space. There will be some good outfits; there will be some bad outfits; there will be some fugly outfits -- actually, we've got our fingers-crossed that there will be lots and lots of latter. We hope you enjoy it!]

This week, on Go Fug Yourself, we took a long look back at Shania Twain’s Wardrobe Through The Years. Hint: IT’S BAD. When we weren’t humming, “That Don’t Impress Me Much,” we were feeling impressed indeed by the gorgeous and fabulously dressed duchess formerly known as Kate Middleton. We didn’t ignore the actresses of the world, either, as we devoted a considerable amount of time to redressing Nicole Kidman for the CMT Awards, giving props to Kristen Stewart at the MTV Movie Awards, keeping a wary eye on Cate Blanchett, and wondering if something looked weird with Charlize Theron’s face. Then we realized that even if it does, we’d be lucky to look so weird. So consider this an apology, Charlize, and carry on.

The multifarious bell is certainly tolling for Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich these days. Ulrich, last seen playing himself in a cameo role in Get Him to the Greek, has been cast in an HBO drama entitled Hemingway and Gellhorn, a film, unsurprisingly, about “the romance between Ernest Hemingway and WWII correspondent Martha Gellhorn, Hemingway’s inspiration for ”For Whom The Bell Tolls” and the only woman who ever asked for a divorce from the writer.” The film, now shooting in San Francisco, stars Clive Owen and Nicole Kidman in the two eponymous roles, with Ulrich playing Dutch documentary filmmaker Joris Ivens. We always pegged Nicole Kidman for a Metallica fan. [via Vol. 1 Brooklyn via Blabbermouth]

One of the most gifted photographers of the late-20th century, Herb Ritts had a discerning eye for both male and female sensuality. Brilliant behind the camera — be it with moving imagery or still — Ritts was a master of capturing physical form on film. His striking photographs of such legendary actors and supermodels as Richard Gere, Nicole Kidman, Cindy Crawford, and Naomi Campbell stop you dead in your tracks, while his music videos for Janet Jackson, Chris Isaak, Madonna, and Michael Jackson made MTV a destination for style and glamour in the ’90s.

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There was a time when we really liked Nicole Kidman. And the trailer for Rabbit Hole, a new film from John Cameron Mitchell (he of Hedwig and the Angry Inch fame) based on David Lindsay-Abaire’s Pulitzer-winning play about a couple dealing with the loss of their young son, reminds us of why. She’s fantastic at playing tragic female characters who refuse to give in to their circumstances (think Ada Monroe in Cold Mountain, Grace Stewart in The Others, or even Virginia Woolf in The Hours… you know, up until she drowns herself). Won over by the critical praise that the film received when it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, Lionsgate immediately snatched it up and slapped on an Oscar season release date. What do you think? Could Annette Bening (who seemed like a shoe-in for Best Actress thanks to her performance in The Kids Are All Right) have a real challenger on her hands?

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It was reported yesterday that Academy Award-Winner Nicole Kidman will be joined by Academy Award-Stealer-From-Cate-Blanchett Gwyneth Paltrow in The Danish Girl,  a new movie about the first post-operative transsexual, Einar Wegener, directed by the man who brought us our favorite kiddie-vampire movie not starring Robert Pattinson, Let The Right One In.

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