weird censorship: Malkovitch and the chicken
Weird freedom of speech story for the day: John Malkovitch's first film as a director, has the British censors in a bit of a tizzy. Apparently they want scenes cut showing a dog and a chicken with (fake) dynamite strapped to their legs walking into a crowd. The scenes are designed to show a real technique used by the group that is the subject of the film. Obviously, the animals aren't shown being blown up.
Notably, the censors complained about these scenes, but not the ones with children shown with (fake) dynamite strapped to them. The problem is that you can't show scenes with animals in distress. Apparently the chicken was not happy (did it get counselling afterwards?)
Now Malkovitch is upset (I would be too, if a chicken scene stopped a film that I took 7 years to make).
Not sure this decision makes much sense given what I see on the screen every time I go. I'm sure it probably means a lot of the Muppets would have to be cut, too.
