The director finally speaks!
Ron Howard, director of the Vince Vaughn movie, The Dilemma, isn’t backing down and says that the “gay” joke will remain in the film when it comes to theaters January 14.
Howard wrote a letter on Friday to the L.A. Times, explaining his decision:
“[Vaughn’s character] has a mouth that sometimes gets him into trouble and he definitely flirts with the line of what’s okay to say. He tries to do what’s right but sometimes falls short. Who can’t relate to that?
We never expected [the joke] to represent our intentions or the point of view of the movie or those of us who made it.
I don’t strip my films of everything that I might personally find inappropriate. Comedy or drama, I’m always trying to make choices that stir the audience in all kinds of ways. I defend the right for some people to express offense at a joke as strongly as I do the right for that joke to be in a film. But if storytellers, comedians, actors and artists are strong armed into making creative changes, it will endanger comedy as both entertainment and provoker of thought.”
He added though, that it was “appropriate” to remove the joke from the trailer, “in light of some events that surrounded the release of the trailer. The Dilemma is a comedy for grown-ups, not kids.”
We’re glad he decided to take the joke out of the trailer, but we still don’t quite agree with his reasoning to keep it in the film.
Thoughts??
[Image via WENN.]