WAL-MART IS OPPOSED TO ‘PORNO’

There’s new controversy over the title of filmmaker Kevin Smith’s saucy comedy, Zack and Miri Make a Porno.

Last fall, some ads for the film were rejected in the U.S. because of the word “porno.” Now, according to Smith, Wal-Mart stores in the U.S. have asked that the cover of the DVD, set to hit shelves tomorrow, omit the word too.

“I’m just so shocked that the word ‘porno’ meant that much to people... they found it insanely offensive and don’t want to see it on display,” Smith said.
Smith said Weinstein Co., which released the film Oct. 31, has complied with Wal-Mart’s request and created new DVD covers for the retailer, but the director worries that some unsuspecting customers will be fooled when they see the shortened title.

“Some Wal-Mart-er could buy it and think: ‘Oh, Zack and Miri, looks lovely,’ and pop it in and there’s... some pretty graphic stuff,” said the indie icon, known for such slacker hits as Clerks, Chasing Amy, Dogma and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.

“I mean, at least with the word ‘porno’ in the title, you can kind of give people a warning about what they’re in for.”

As for the DVD release in Canada, Smith said retailers here will sell the cover with the full title.

Before the film hit the big screen, the Motion Picture Association of America gave it its most restrictive rating, NC-17, which means no one under that age is admitted. After several appeals from Smith, the organization lowered the rating to an R-rating which allows under-17 viewers in if they’re accompanied by a parent or adult over 21.

The MPAA also rejected some Zack and Miri ads, deeming them “highly sexually suggestive,” so Weinstein Co. created new posters that had stick figures representing the actors.