For a film steeped in controversy — including recently surfaced tales of a nightmarish set and feuds between talent on the festival trail — the domestic trailer for “Blue Is the Warmest Color” is remarkably tame.
The first U.S. trailer arrived on Thursday, stripped of the dialogue and risque content that can be seen in the international trailer. Trading in subtitles for an endorsement from 2013 Cannes jury prexy Steven Spielberg (who presented director Abdellatif Kechiche and actresses Lea Seydoux and Adèle Exarchopoulos with the Palme d’Or) might be just the move to get American audiences behind this racy French fare.
Sundance Selects is distributing the film in the U.S. with an NC-17 rating instead of trimming out the film’s notoriously explicit content.
Jonathan Sehring, president of Sundance Selects/IFC Films, said in a statement, “This is a landmark film with two of the best female performances we have ever see on screen. The film is first and foremost a film about love, coming of age and passion. We refuse to compromise Kechiche’s vision by trimming the film for an R rating, and we have every confidence that ‘Blue Is the Warmest Color’ will play in theaters around the country regardless.”
“Blue Is the Warmest Color” opens Oct. 25 in the U.S.
