Forbidden Puppet Love

Brian Doherty | October 5, 2004

The much-anticipated (by me, at least) Trey Parker/Matt Stone patriotic puppet war opus Team America: World Police is threatened with a contract-breaking NC-17 rating...over simulated sex between puppets. (All the characters in the movie are puppets.)

As the UK Guardian reports:

The makers of Team America: World Police have reportedly gone to great lengths, modifying the offending scene nine times for submission to the Motion Picture Association of America, the US film classification authority. They are keen to secure an R rating, which would allow under-18s to see the film when accompanied by an adult.

The makers, directors Matt Stone and Trey Parker and producer Scott Rudin, are contesting the MPAA classification, saying that the film doesn't show anything that's not been seen before in other R-rated movies. And besides, Rudin told the Hollywood Reporter, "our characters are made of wood and have no genitalia. If the puppets did to each other what we show them doing, all they'd get is splinters."

UPDATE: Now with link to the Guardian story, above.