NC-17 means that you get it in like 3 theaters. They won't run the spots on MTV, won't run the advertising. It's the kiss of death so there was really no other choice.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
As a parent myself, I can appreciate the MPAA and what they're supposed to do, but what happens with NC-17 is that the MPAA is basically taking away the rights of parents. They're basically telling me that I can't show my kids this movie if I decide they can see it.
With the first 'Hatchet,' I had an epic battle with the ratings board. They kept giving the movie an NC-17. There is absolutely no way that movie should have gotten an NC-17. All the gore in it is so ridiculous and over-the-top that you can't take it seriously.
And it was out in the theaters in two weeks. This is not, 'We're going to develop twenty-five and maybe one's going to get made,' so the first three things I wrote got up on the screen and, good, bad or indifferent, I got to see them on their feet.
I don't know that 'NCIS: Los Angeles' is a complete reinvention, but I'm playing one of the guys in charge this time. Before I'd be cast as a young impressionable character. I think part of that is just being more mature.
The 'NCIS' franchise is beyond successful.
Leaving 'NCIS' was not planned, so there is no plan. If I were panicking now, it would defeat the purpose.
I'm hoping that word-of-mouth on the film - people seeing it and liking it - that that will drive more people to the theaters, because I haven't seen the billboards or the posters or anything.
'17 Again' was one of the best times of my life. The whole cast was really close. We were like a family. When we weren't working, we'd all hang out. It was a great group of people.
I don't think, by the way, that any network would have given us their show to release all 13 episodes once ahead of them, and the same way, I don't think any studio will give us their movies to release the same day they are in the theaters - not yet, not yet.
I don't think an NC-17 rating is the kiss of death. Nor do I think that, in the hands of the right filmmakers, studios have a preconceived notion to pass on NC-17 material.