J.J. Abrams’ production company is yet to release an R-rated movie. But all that’s about to change with Overlord, their genre-straddling combo of sci-fi, war movie and horror, which the MPAA has awarded an R, for “strong bloody violence, disturbing images, language, and brief sexual content.”
J.J. Abrams Backed the Filmmakers
We recently caught up with the film’s director and stars to find out how their film — which pits American paratroopers against Nazi monsters — got the rating, and what it means for the movie. You can watch their responses in the video above.
Director Julius Avery said, “This film I don’t think could ever not be R-rated. J.J. backed me on that and got behind me on that front. So I don’t think there’s anywhere else you could make this movie outside Bad Robot. Where you could do an R-rated genre mash-up completely bonkers movie like this.”
Going For a “Hard R”
Actor John Magaro agreed, explaining: “We didn’t go into it knowing it would be R-rated. There really wasn’t much swearing in the script. We added a lot of the swearing. And it started on the plane scene at the beginning in the fuselage. It was a bunch of guys and people were throwing around the f-bomb and Julius came over and said, ‘Guys, we can’t say that. Let’s do it without that.’ Then about three days later he was like: ‘We’re going for a hard R, so you guys can say whatever you like.’ It did take the reigns off after a little bit and it gave us the freedom to really go for it.”
While his co-star Iain de Caestecker added: “You do just kind of need it. If you were to really to see some of the stuff that these guys see in the movie, the only word to describe it is f—king crazy.”
You can see what else the cast thought about the R-rating in the video, while the film’s official synopsis is below, along with details of a very cool Inglourious Basterds easter egg hidden in the film…
With only hours until D-Day, a team of American paratroopers drop into Nazi-occupied France to carry out a mission that’s crucial to the invasion’s success. Tasked with destroying a radio transmitter atop a fortified church, the desperate soldiers join forces with a young French villager to penetrate the walls and take down the tower. But, in a mysterious Nazi lab beneath the church, the outnumbered G.I.’s come face-to-face with enemies unlike any the world has ever seen.
Overlord hits UK screens on November 7, AU screens on November 8, and US screens on November 9.