It’s not unusual for special versions of films to be made for airlines, removing excessive violence, sex and other potentially problematic scenes (unsurprisingly that includes the depiction of air crashes). However, Delta Airlines has found itself facing criticising for cutting the lesbian kissing from the Oscar-nominated Carol from its in-flight movies.
It’s difficult to believe they would have done the same if it was a man and woman kissing, something that frustrated gay comedian Cameron Esposito when she noticed what they’d done. She took to Twitter, saying, ‘Watched CAROL on a plane & they edited it so the main characters never even kiss. Booooooo. Two women kissing is fine for planes.’
Esposito was also keen to note that the same plane was showing a film starring Paul Giamatti, in which he was practicing BDSM.
After a furore began to rise, the film’s screenwriter Phyllis Nagy noted that not all airlines had done this, and that the likes of American Airlines and United Airlines had shown unedited versions of Carol.
Delta has attempted to justify their decision to AfterEllen, releasing a statement saying, “There were two versions of this film that the studio makes available-one that is edited and one that is not edited. The edited version removes two explicit scenes that do not meet our guidelines. The edited version also removes all kissing. The other version is fully non-edited and includes the kissing, but it also includes the explicit scenes. Unfortunately, Delta doesn’t have the rights to edit the movie, or to make the decision to keep some of that content (e.g. kissing). Because of the explicit scenes included in the non-edited version, we chose the edited version. This is consistent with what is available to all airlines.”
Although that sort of sounds logical, it does make you wonder why other airlines allowed the unedited version on their flights. [Read more…]
While Carol may have missed out on a Best Picture Oscar nomination it’s gotten massive amounts of love from the Gay & Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association’s Dorian Awards, which bestowed five prizes on the movie, including Film of the Year, Director of the Year (Todd Haynes), Screenplay of the year (Phyllis Nagy) and LGBTQ Film of the Year. In addition, Cate Blanchett, star of the ‘50s-set lesbian romance, earned Film Performance of the Year – Actress for her titular turn. Haynes also was also hailed as Wilde Artist of the Year (named for the group’s patron saint Oscar Wilde). As for Film Performance of the Year – Actor, Leonardo DiCaprio for The Revenant prevailed. Blanchett previously won a Dorian Award for Blue Jasmine.
As always, a few days after the Golden Globes, the Oscar nominations have been announced, so that we can spend the next few weeks wondering who will win, before it’s announced on February 28th. As many expected, The Revenant got the most nods, with 12, followed by Mad Max: Fury Road with 10 – the duo also became only the fourth and fifth film ever to get nominations in all seven technical categories.
It was Carol and Bridge Of Spies that had most to celebrate yesterday with the news that they each scored nine BAFTA nominations. It was widely expected Carol would do well, although Spielberg’s Bridge Of Spies cetainly did better than many expected it to going into the awards season.
Carol was a massive success at Cannes, with many tipping it for a major awards run at the beginning of next year. Todd Haynes’ beautiful 1950s set drama will receive its UK Premiere on Wednesday 14 October at the Odeon Leicester Square as the 59th BFI London Film Festival’s American Express Gala, attended by Todd Haynes, Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara.
After receiving huge amounts of positive buzz at the Cannes film festival (with some suggesting it could be a strong runner in the Oscar race), Carol is gearing up for release later this year. Something that will help keep it in people’s minds if the fact it’s been announced that Todd Haynes’ beautiful 1950s set drama will screen as the American Express Gala and the 59th BFI London Film Festival.