Lee Daniels only gets one f*ck with The Butler’s PG-13 rating

Lee Daniels, director of such hard-R flicks as Precious and Paperboy, evidently felt a bit frustrated with keeping things PG-13 inhis upcoming film The Butler, which follows Forest Whitaker as a White House staffer through eight presidential administrations. That’s a lot of time to spend in the White House without dropping any F-bombs. Daniels said of the experience:

“I can’t go into my bag of tricks on this one: no urination, no baby falling down the stairs, no cursing at all. We only have one ‘f—,’ which Lyndon Johnson gets. I felt like I directed the film in handcuffs and a muzzle.”

Aww, come on! No urination or babies falling down the stairs? How can they possibly include the Nixon administration without any babies falling down the stairs?! It’ll be complete fiction! Consider my interest waned! Unless, perhaps, that “f*ck” from Lyndon Johnson is used in a sexual context, in which case you may consider my interest officially peaked once more.

With such content restrictions tied to the project, you may wonder why Daniels would have ever signed up for it in the first place. For my personal theory on his involvement, allow me to introduce you to some of the cast: Robin Williams, John Cusack, Liev Schreiber, Alex Pettyfer, Alan Rickman, James Marsden, Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding Jr., Jane Fonda, and Oprah “The Magic Touch” Winfrey. My guess is that Daniels heard they wanted a PG-13 rating, said he wasn’t interested, then saw the cast and said “f*ck it, I’m in”. 

The Butler currently has no official U.S. release date, but is slated for late 2013.