According to director Matthew Vaughn, three scenes had to be cut from The King's Man in order to avoid an NC-17 rating. The King's Man is the third film in the franchise, acting as a loose prequel to 2014's Kingsman: The Secret Service and 2017's Kingsman: The Golden Circle. The World-War-1 based story chronicles the beginning of the Kingsman agency and its attempts to stop history's worst tyrants from starting a war that will kill millions.
The Kingsman movies, based on comics by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons, have all featured over-the-top graphic violence, coarse language, and sexual material, giving the films a tone not typically found in spy fare. The first film, for example, features a prolonged fight sequence in a church as Colin Firth's character fights (and kills) several dozen people all while Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird" plays in the background. In keeping with its predecessors, The King's Man is also rated R for strong, bloody violence, language, and some sexual material.
In a Screen Rant exclusive interview, Vaughn reveals that The King's Man very nearly featured three additional scenes that likely would have pushed the film from an R to an NC-17 rating. According to Vaughn, the scenes in question all involved Rasputin, played by Rhys Ifans. Trailers portray the character, based on the real-life Grigori Rasputin, as a mysterious (and bizarre) figure with a remarkable fighting ability and a flair for seduction. Check out Vaughn's full comment below:
"[...]I think that people would associate with King's Man in the last 35, 40 minutes. And also in the middle part with Rhys or with Rasputin. So wherever I could put King's Man stuff in it, I would. But wherever I had to stay true to history and be respectful of the characters, I would as well. So there's a lot of stuff we cut out, which was definitely way too King's Man-y. I had three Rasputin scenes, which would've probably given me an NC-17 rating."
Considering the budget for The King's Man, it's in the best interest of 20th Century Studios to have the film released as widely as possible, which means an NC-17 rating is simply not acceptable. While the Kingsman movies have all been somewhat wacky in tone, Vaughn's comments also suggest that a slightly different approach had to be taken this time around, since the film does deal with real events and people. However, it sounds like that classic Kingsman tone will still be present in the last 35 or 40 minutes of the movie. Regarding whether or not the three cut Rasputin scenes will ever see the light of day, Vaughn says: "Maybe one day. Maybe. Yeah. Who knows?"
Initial reviews for the film seem to be relatively mixed, but it can't be argued that Vaughn is making movies that only he could make. Even though the film is rated R and not NC-17, it seems like audiences will still get healthy doses of the violence, language, and sexual content they have come to expect from a Kingsman movie. While the Rasputin scenes in question may be absent from the theatrical release, Vaughn's comments hint that an Unrated Blu-ray cut may be in the film's future. The King's Man releases in theaters on December 17th.
