Yahoo Movies J-Law's new movie edited due to 'sadistic violence'
Jennifer Lawrence's upcoming spy thriller Red Sparrow had to remove a particularly gruesome scene in order to lower its certificate.
The movie sees the Oscar-winner play Dominika Egorova, who is drafted against her will as a "sparrow" – a trained seductress who is taught how to use her body as a weapon by the Russian secret service.
Adapted from Jason Matthews' novel of the same name, we'd expect the film to have quite a bit of violence, and the British Board of Film Classification have now revealed that they were asked by the distributor how they could lower the rating to a 15.
"The company was advised the film was likely to be classified 18 but that their preferred 15 could be achieved by making reductions in one scene of strong sadistic violence (a garroting)," the BBFC said.
"When the film was submitted for formal classification appropriate reductions had been made in that scene and the film was classified 15."
Also cut out of the movie are references to Vladimir Putin, despite him playing a key role in the original book.
The movie's story was previously shifted from modern day Russia to 1970s Budapest, but when the makers eventually restored the book's setting, the Russian president's role was not restored.
Rumours abound that the decision was taken to avoid being targeted by hackers, like Sony was around the time The Interview was released.
Red Sparrow also stars Joel Edgerton, Jeremy Irons, Matthias Schoenaerts, Ciaran Hinds, Joely Richardson, Mary Louise Parker and Charlotte Rampling.
Red Sparrow is released in UK cinemas on March 1 and US cinemas on March 2.
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