Kevin Bacon did it in Wild Things and again in Invisible Man; Brad Pitt did it inadvertently for the paparazzi. Ewan McGregor has done it repeatedly — in The Pillow Book, in Velvet Goldmine, and recently in Young Adam. And now Will Smith and Colin Farrell have done it — well, almost.
Smith stars in the upcoming science-fiction thriller, I, Robot, loosely based on the classic Isaac Asimov collection of stories and now sitting at second position on the United States box-office charts. Smith plays a cop on the trail of a killer robot. Besides steamy love scenes with ex-model co-star Bridget Moynahan, there is a scene in which Smith, who went to the gym and buffed up as much as possible for this action role, jumps out of bed and into the shower.
But do we get to see it all? No. We get to see Smith’s buttocks; full-frontal nudity would have meant that the film got a more exclusive rating, keeping younger viewers out of theatres and having a negative impact on box-office takings. The ‘butt shot” meant that in the US the film was rated PG13 — parental guidance, no under 13. A ‘willy shot” would have pushed the rating much higher.
So the shots in which Smith’s manhood is to be seen have been digitally airbrushed into obscurity for the sake of those young audiences — and the box office, of course.
In Europe, where rating systems are not so delicate, it seems that Smith will be seen in all his glory — front and back. It is not yet clear which version we will see in South Africa when I, Robot opens on September 3.
Farrell, who has shot to the top via hits such as SWAT, Phone Booth and Minority Report, also nearly had a full frontal in his upcoming movie, A Home at the End of the World (scheduled for release in this country in October). The movie is based on a novel by Michael Cunningham, author of The Hours, which was made into the film starring Nicole Kidman as Virginia Woolf, winning her an Oscar.
Irishman Farrell has caused hearts to race in Hollywood since producer-director Joel Schumacher cast him as a raw army recruit in Tigerland. Since then, Farrell has gained a racy reputation for his slew of love affairs with Hollywood beauties.
A Home at the End of the World deals with a pair of lifelong friends and the love triangle in which they get involved. Farrell plays a character who has affairs with both a man and a woman. This will be good news to the hunky star’s many fans. What won’t please them so much, though, is that a moment of full-frontal nudity has been cut from the movie, with Farrell’s acquiescence. He has said that he agreed with others who felt that the visible presence of his penis on screen detracted from the serious drama of the relevant scene.
Farrell also stars in the upcoming Alexander the Great movie directed by Oliver Stone, in which it is apparently made clear that the Macedonian conqueror was bisexual. Farrell is rumoured to have had a brief on-set fling with his recently divorced co-star, Angelina Jolie, who plays Alexander’s mother, Olympias.