Judi Dench’s ‘Philomena’ Ratings Videos — A Look Back At The Viral Campaign Of 2013
Jan. 14 2014, Published 6:35 p.m. ET
It was a campaign for a cause and RadarOnline.com is looking back at Harvey Weinstein's successful bid against the Motion Picture Association of America to have his hit film Philomena rated PG-13 and not R.
In Nov. 2013, Judi Dench reprised her role as James Bond's boss and dispatched an agent to handle the case.
The purpose? To stop the MPAA from slapping an R-rating on the Oscar winner’s new film, Philomena, just because the British comedy drops two f-bombs.
In the clip, which you can watch below, ominous music played as the camera closed in on a chair, which spun around to reveal Dench’s M, who declared, “Just when you thought I was dead.”
After a title card in which the “M” in “Philomena” is emphasized, M delivered her assignment.
“I have an important mission for you,” she added, then asked, “Are you familiar with MPAA?”
radar_embed service=5min.com src="http://pshared.5min.com/Scripts/PlayerSeed.js?sid=1126&width=570&height=351&playList=518085783&sequential=1&shuffle=0"
The full video included Philomena co-star Coogan as her agent. Watch it below.
radar_embed service=5min.com src="http://pshared.5min.com/Scripts/PlayerSeed.js?sid=1126&width=570&height=351&playList=518085782&sequential=1&shuffle=0"
“There’s two ‘F’ words in the movie. You’re allowed one ‘F.’ And this is like The King’s Speech,” the mogul said, as he mustered support for the campaign. “The movie is the gentlest, wonderful true story filed with humor and joy. And they should just put PG-13 for strong language on this and make it the exception.”
He’s a powerful man, Weinstein. The campaign won.
"We owe this victory to Barbara Broccoli, producer of the James Bond series, Daniel Craig and Sam Mendes who because of their relationship with Judi Dench gave permission to spoof the ratings system using the M character," he later said.
"We know that went a long way into shedding light on the themes of the movie and the fact that the PG-13 rating was correct. We are glad the MPAA has a good sense of humor and with the cooperation of Barbara and her team it was proven once again no one does it better than James Bond. And my sincerest congratulations to Steve Coogan, who went to the MPAA and defended the case personally.”
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