The long-in-the-tooth sequel to Robert Rodriguez’s 2005 pulpy hit Sin City is expected to hit theaters in August and the marketing powers at be at distributor Dimension Films have been expressively selling the noir-tinted flourishes of Frank Miller’s celebrated graphic novels. Yet there’s one piece of the marketing puzzle that won’t be seen at a theater near you. The MPAA has rejected a new character poster for Sin City: A Dame to Kill For featuring a provocatively posed Eva Green.
While battles between sexuality and the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) are as old as dirt at this point in time, it’s still rather interesting when such battles become public. The poster was chided by the trade group “for nudity – curve of under breast and dark nipple/areola circle visible through sheer gown.” The one sheet features Green, an actress no stranger to the stranglehold of the sometimes prudish nature of the MPAA (for instance, her very first feature, Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Dreamers was slapped with a NC-17 rating for sexuality and nudity) adorned in a sheer robe in a sultry pose, all color desaturated but her ruby lips and nail polish and green eyes while the taglines reads “I’ve been especially bad.” Whatever the artistic expression behind it or how closely it flows with the movie its trying to sell, the provocative ad seems to be all but begging for disapproval. She’s also brandishing a pistol, but as is typical of the MPAA, that is not nearly as salacious as a hint at sensuality.
Which, perhaps in turn, is exactly what Harvey Weinstein was looking for. The mogul has made a career out of finding unorthodox measures to get one to talk about his films– remember all the hoopla revolving around Weinstein’s Lee Daniels’ The Butler last summer? Creating a surely-to-be-rejected poster seems like little more than a ploy for some attention– this is a sequel to a particularly niche film (as franchises go) that was made nearly a decade ago, after all. If that’s the case, it worked yet again. Then again, that may read a tad too cynical. No one at Dimension Films has yet to publicly comment on the MPAA decision, but it is believed a that compromise to the Green character one sheet is underway.
Whatever the case, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For is expected the reach cinemas on August 22nd. Rodriguez returned to the director’s seat (again with an assist from Frank Miller, who wrote not just the source material, but also the film’s screenplay) and newcomer Green stars alongside returning actors Jessica Alba, Bruce Willis, Rosario Dawson, Jaime King and Mickey Rourke. New to the franchise includes actors Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Juno Temple, Josh Brolin and Lady Gaga.
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