Last month it was announced that Warner Bros. is set to release an R-rated Ultimate Edition of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and as part of its coverage of the DC Extended Universe superhero epic, Entertainment Weekly caught up with Ben Affleck, director Zack Snyder and producer Charles Roven to get some details on the extended edition.
“I’m a parent of young kids, and I feel like I wouldn’t want to have a Batman v Superman that I couldn’t show to my younger kids,” states Affleck. “But on the same token, as an adult, I like to see movies that are R-rated. I think nowadays because we have so many means of distribution and ways that we can do different things, it’s the creative solution to a creative challenge. You can have multiple versions and I can show my son and my daughters this movie and feel confident that the stuff isn’t too crazy, and then grownups can see larger version, [which is like] the red-band trailer. They can see the more adult version of that movie. These movies have definitely evolved from being comic books for children aimed at kids. Now they’re the most mainstream movies made, the most successful, the most widely viewed movies these days. Clearly there’s a big enough audience. I think it’s cool. Why not have an R-rated version that you release for download or on DVD later? I think that’s smart.”
“We were just like, ‘Okay, look. We’re not making a three-hour movie,'” adds Snyder, with regards to how the Ultimate Edition came about “I mean, even I didn’t want to make a three-hour movie. I drove the cuts probably harder than anyone. The studio, they were willing to let the movie indulge pretty hard. But I felt like it’s at a manageable two-and-a-half hours. Let’s also not forget the credits are super long, the end credits. So the movie’s closer to two hours and 22 minutes… There’s just a lot of these Easter Eggs in the Director’s Cut that I think are gonna be fun for everyone. There’s one giant one that I won’t tell you about yet that speaks to what’s gonna go on in the greater Justice League universe.”
Producer Charles Roven then went on to discuss the tone of the Ultimate Edition, stating that: “There’s not a lot of blood in our movies. The ratings board also judges their PG-13 and R ratings by what they consider to be a level of intensity and how much that intensity goes throughout the entire movie. There are some pretty intense scenes in Batman v Superman, and if they went on longer and had that same level of intensity, that might cause the ratings board to shift their rating.”
Roven also confirmed that the plan remains for Suicide Squad to receive a PG-13 rating for its theatrical run in August: “I think right now we’re going for the PG-13. I don’t know that that’s going to materially change. We can give that movie the edge that it needs and still maintain a PG-13.”
SEE ALSO: Why a Batman v Superman R-rated cut is a good thing
Fearing the actions of a god-like Super Hero left unchecked, Gotham City’s own formidable, forceful vigilante takes on Metropolis’s most revered, modern-day savior, while the world wrestles with what sort of hero it really needs. And with Batman and Superman at war with one another, a new threat quickly arises, putting mankind in greater danger than it’s ever known before.
SEE ALSO: Follow all of our Batman v Superman coverage here
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is set for release on March 25th 2016 and sees Zack Snyder directing a cast that includes returning Man of Steel stars Henry Cavill (Superman), Amy Adams (Lois Lane), Diane Lane (Martha Kent), Laurence Fishburne (Perry White), Harry Lennix (General Swanwick) and Christina Wren (Carrie Farris) alongside Ben Affleck (Argo) as Batman, Gal Gadot (Fast & Furious 6) as Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa (Game of Thrones) as Aquaman, Ray Fisher as Cyborg, Ezra Miller (The Perks of Being a Wallflower) as The Flash, Jesse Eisenberg (Now You See Me) as Lex Luthor, Jeremy Irons (The Borgias) as Alfred Pennyworth, Holly Hunter (The Piano) as Senator Finch, Tao Okamoto (The Wolverine) as Mercy Graves, Lauren Cohan (The Walking Dead) as Martha Wayne, Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Watchmen) as Thomas Wayne and Callan Mulvey (300: Rise of an Empire), Jena Malone (Sucker Punch) and Scoot McNairy (Argo) in as-yet-unrevealed roles.
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Originally published March 4, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
