Andrew Breitbart Documentary Loses Bid For PG-13 Rating (Video)

The folks behind a documentary about deceased conservative rebel Andrew Breitbart have lost a battle with the MPAA to get their film rated PG13, so it will open in limited release Friday with an R rating because of foul language.

The movie, Hating Breitbart, was to open a week earlier, but writer-director Andrew Marcus was unpleased with the R rating it received because of several utterances of the F word. He delayed the opening for seven days, took out most of the offending words —  leaving in the ones spoken by Breitbart – and resubmitted the movie to the MPAA hoping for a PG-13 rating. The MPAA, though, didn’t budge and Marcus refuses to cut further.

VIDEO:  Andrew Breitbart Documentary Release Delayed Over Rating War With MPAA 

Marcus had argued that movies like The Social Network, The Adjustment Bureau and other recent films where characters used the F word received PG13 ratings, but the MPAA was unmoved. He said a more formal appeals process would have delayed the movie for an additional 25 days, so he opted instead to open with the R rating.

“Swearing was integral to Andrew Breitbart. It’s one of the things that made him unique in the conservative movement,” Marcus said. “He was shocking in part because of the language he used, so I was willing to cut out every other use of the word except when it came from Andrew.”

Rocky Mountain Pictures is opening the movie in Los Angeles, St. Louis, Dallas and Washington on Friday and hopes to add another 10 cities the following week.

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“My best scenario would have been to have a cleaned-up matinee version and a full-throated primetime version,” Marcus said. “In the DVD, I’ll give people a choice. But if I can only offer one version in theaters, it’s gotta be the version that’s true to Andrew.”

See an explicit version of the Hating Breitbart trailer that includes Breitbart using the F word below.

Email: Paul.Bond@thr.com