10 Insane Things Studios DEMANDED In Movies
1. Re-Dubbing The N-Word... In A Civil War Movie - Ride with the Devil
Given that Ang Lee's 1999 Western Ride with the Devil is an R-rated film about the American Civil War, it's not terribly surprising that it features numerous uses of the "N-word," as is period-accurate and certainly not something endorsed by the movie.
However, studio USA Films demanded that the film's more discomforting language be re-dubbed for viewings on airplanes, and asked that Jeffrey Wright "clean up" his big line near the end of the movie.
Wright's former slave Daniel Holt defiantly says, "I ain't never again gonna be nobody's [n-word]," with the studio wanting him to change the offending word to "negro."
Wright, however, flatly refused to soften the character's dialogue to make the film a more palatable experience for general audiences, and because he said no, the studio simply brought in another actor to do the dubbing instead.
Given that the film's use of language is crucial to its overall historical context, it's certainly a bad look on the studio's part. Why participate in the creation of a movie about the Black experience in the U.S. only to sanitise it?