'Miral' director Julian Schnabel gets Film's R-rating Overturned

Mar 10 2011

by Kate Ward

Image Credit: Jose Haro

The MPAA has overturned their R-rating of Julian Schnabel’s March 25 film, Miral. The feature, which stars Freida Pinto and follows the real-life story of a Palestinian girl coping with war while growing up in East Jerusalem, was slapped with an R-rating for “violent content, including a sexual assault.”

Schnabel and producer Jon Kilik argued that younger generations should be able to see such a film about a teenager, particularly one dealing with such a serious issue.

The MPAA listened by changing the rating to PG-13.

“I understand the MPAA is by nature a protective organization, but I felt very strongly that they didn’t need to protect teenagers from my film,” Schnabel said in a press release obtained by EW. “Quite the contrary, teenagers are the intended audience for Miral’s story. I am very happy the MPAA proved to be open minded and ultimately agreed.”

Miral is based on Rula Jebreal’s semi-autobiographical novel, also named Miral.