THINKFilm Announces 'NC-17' Ratings Appeal for Kevin Bacon/Colin Firth Starrer 'WHERE THE TRUTH LIES'

THINKFilm Announces 'NC-17' Ratings Appeal for Kevin Bacon/Colin Firth Starrer 'WHERE THE TRUTH LIES'

TORONTO, Aug. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- THINKFilm announced today that the company will appeal the Motion Picture Association of America's (MPAA) "NC-17" rating of the suspense filled mystery, WHERE THE TRUTH LIES. Academy-Award- nominated writer-director Atom Egoyan will speak on behalf of the film at the upcoming appeal. An "NC-17" rating from the MPAA restricts access to the film to audiences under the age of 17. An appeal date is being set.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050823/LATU066)

THINKFilm chairman Robert Lantos, who is also the film's producer, notes: "WHERE THE TRUTH LIES is a sophisticated and intelligently provocative film. The NC-17 rating will unfairly limit people's access to it because of the number of theaters in America which will not play an NC-17 rated film. This film stars some of the most talented actors in the movies today, is based on a popular mainstream novel and is written and directed by a filmmaker known for his artistic integrity and achievement. The film has not encountered this kind of restrictive rating anywhere else in the free world. Only in America will many be deprived of access to it."

The film tells the story of what happens during a ménage a trios that leads to a girl's death and it is the ménage a trois scene which has yielded the NC-17 rating. Continues Lantos, "This scene is done using a single sustained mastershot in order to allow the actors the most conducive environment for intimacy and intensity, and in order to best communicate what happens in the film's pivotal scene. It cannot be cut without compromising the central scene of the narrative and thus rendering the mystery of the film incomprehensible. It remains more than a bit absurd to me that this scene would garner an R if shot exactly the same but from just torso up, but becomes an NC-17 because the mastershot reveals full bodies."

In WHERE THE TRUTH LIES, based on Rupert Holmes' acclaimed novel of the same name, Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth star as Lanny Morris and Vince Collins, the country's hottest entertainment duo. Lanny and Vince are knee deep in all the wealth and power that comes with such fame. That is, until a beautiful girl (Rachel Blanchard) turns up naked and dead in the pair's hotel suite after a night of wild partying. Years later, an intrepid reporter (Alison Lohman) sets out to discover what happened that night, only to be lured into the seductive games of these men.

The film received its world premiere at Cannes this year and will have its North American premiere as an official gala of the 2005 Toronto Film Festival. WHERE THE TRUTH LIES marks the sixth collaboration between Atom Egoyan and Golden Globe nominated producer Robert Lantos. The film is scheduled to be released on October 14 in New York and Los Angeles, with a national expansion on October 21.

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050823/LATU066
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: THINKFilm

CONTACT: Alex Klenert of THINKFilm, +1-646-293-9400,
aklenert@thinkfilmcompany.com; or James Lewis of mPRm, +1-323-933-3399,
jlewis@mprm.com, for THINKfilm

-------
Profile: intent