'Blue Valentine' Gets New 'R' Rating

Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan may have inadvertently saved the upcoming Derek Cianfrance flick, Blue Valentine, from box office disaster.

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) had previously slapped Valentine with an NC-17 rating for depicting an oral sex scene between the two main characters, a married couple played by Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams. The film's producer, Harvey Weinstein personally argued to the ratings board that the NC-17 label was unrepresentative, and requested that it be replaced with an R rating, according to PopEater. The board unanimously agreed to overturn the rating.

There was already controversy mounting in the public about the matter. Many felt that it was unfair due to a similar scene between Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis in the R-rated Black Swan. Cianfrance leapt to the film's, and his actors', defense. "It's an honest relationship between two people, and it feels real because I have great actors," he told the Los Angeles Times. "It's as if the MPAA is saying, 'Your actors are good — but they're too good.'"

Blue Valentine will hit theaters on December 31. —KIMBERLY STEELE