Hey folks, Harry here - with another story of self-censorship due to America's priggy nature. See - this is the problem with the ratings system. Sure - Screen Gems could release this film with an NC 17 or as an unrated film - but they would then face debillitating marketing restrictions that would keep it off network television. So... no matter how much the studio likes the film - they bend beneath the "anticipated" right wing Christian Coalition backlash without so much as a fight. Ultimately - if it is a really great film - then it becomes the challenge to sell it. Hell - make green band trailers with everything out of focus - while the film is "This film is not yet rated" - but then state the date of release and say it will all come into focus on _____ date. But letting the 52% of the country - stall a release that perhaps would joyfully appeal to the other 48% - well... that just doesn't make sense. Hopefully this will get some sort of release - the Title alone suggests an amazing poster. Don't it? Ok - here's Big Jake with the inside story...
Harry dear,
Long time reader, first time scooper. I've worked for years in this town and been continually frustrated that for a town filled with sexual decadence and promiscuity, that when it comes to a really damn good film that tries to deal honestly with the harder issues of the sheets - that they cower.
Velvet Side of Hell is a disturbing thriller with an international cast headed by American actors Jonathan Schaech, Lori Heuring, and Bruce Davison. It is a Sandstorm Films Production, made by and for Sony’s Screen Gems division. The story is set in Budapest, amid a collision of two unlikely worlds: the political backdrop of the US Embassy and the indecorous underworld of East Europe’s pornography scene.
Director J.S. Cardone, a partner in Sandstorm, and his producing partners Carol Kottenbrook and Scott Einbinder, took the Screen Gems approved project last winter to Budapest, assembled their cast, shot the film, brought it back to Sony where it was received enthusiastically by Company topper Clint Culpepper and others at Sony, only to be told that its frank sexuality has stalled its release plans.
The original objective all shared was to make a film in the vein of the memorably, sexually provocative thrillers Hollywood has successfully generated through the years, including two of Cardone’s favorites, Don’t Look Now (which, coincidentally, is receiving its own remake at Paramount), and Basic Instinct (which Hollywood has been trying to sequel for years). Many of Sandstorm’s films made for Screen Gems received direct to video distribution, which this film may have received without debate. However, when the studio viewed the finished film a week or so ago, executives there so admired it that they have been wrestling with what to do with it ever since.
It seems many there feel it deserves a theatrical release, which would generate publicity and buzz, and therefore build up DVD sales figures. However, there ain’t no way no how this film will get anything less than an NC-17, and as a major corporate entity, as we all know, Sony can’t release such a rating. Some indies have been sniffing around the project, and might soon make Sony an offer, but the strange situation has delayed plans for the film’s release until a deal has been struck with an entity unencumbered by ratings restrictions.
So, what a studio intended to make, its filmmakers delivered, they’re somewhere in the middle of happy about it (a theatrical release almost assures increased DVD sales) and pained by what will certainly be a process that can only be considered tough at best: packaging a theatrical film with frank sexual content for the mass theatrical audience. However, once that run is over, that same mass audience who await such titles released on DVD will surely gobble this title up.
But the issue for me, at least, is this: a film of this nature would have been released once upon a time. A studio theatrical release is precluded by circumstances, including fear of boycotts from the new religious right, and the mood of a country more accustomed to violence than nudity (imagine, the worlds best looking actors just scored their biggest hits ever in a film in which they kill everyone in sight. A film portraying them as passionate lovers may not have even been made, let alone distributed, considering the country’s aversion to nudity.)
No wonder Europeans wonder about us.
Big Jake
