ConstantineWas Rated R Mostly Because It Was Moody

Constantine , the 2005Keanu Reeves – starringadaptation of the Vertigo Comic , had a boisterous go of it at first . Though it ’s a cult favorite now , it did n’t do particularly well at release , partially due to the fact that it transgressed a boundary that most comical Good Book films still reject to cross : it was rat roentgen , trammel its exposure to the teenaged demographic that ’s still incredibly vital to selling any risible book film . But , as it turn out , the Divine adjudicate to hit that PG-13 benchmark . They really did .

Today , Reeves , director Francis Lawrence , and producer Akiva Goldsman reunited for a control panel commemorating Constantine ’s fifteenth day of remembrance , host by Collider ’s Steven Weintraub . It ’s a delicious panel ( you may watch it in full below ) , and not just because Reeves is there with his everlasting , beautiful eyes ; everyone involved has a readable love for this film and dish a passel of connive behind the scenes details . Like , about that universal gas constant ? It was out of their hands .

“ Originally when we all started on this we think it would be a rat - gas constant film , ” Francis Lawrence tell . “ Warner then dictated that it had to be PG-13 because of what it cost . We got the tilt of guidepost of what you may and ca n’t do in a PG-13 picture and we keep an eye on those pattern to a T. ”

From 2005’s Constantine.

From 2005’s Constantine.Image: Warner Bros.

Those cozy but true rules — including how many and what type of profanity a pic can use , how much gore is allowed , etc — were a blueprint during output . But when it come time for the MPAA raters to sit down down and look out the plastic film , the rules short became a lot less important .

“ I remember listen that they catch about five minute in and put their notepad down , ” Lawrence suppose . “ They said we got a severe R for ‘ shade . ’ This is not something that ’s on the leaning . But , basically , there was an overwhelming mother wit of dread , was what I listen , from the scuttle vista on . And they did n’t recall there was anything we could do about it . ”

https://gizmodo.com/whoa-keanu-reeves-is-writing-comic-books-now-too-1844419398

How To Watch French Open Live On A Free Channel

So Constantine , a film which shin so valorously to stick inside its ordained ratings guideline , fell outdoors of them because it was just … sort of dour ?

“ There ’s a unearthly subset of religious revulsion that seems to get an R much more quickly , ” Akiva Goldsman , producer on the flick , added . “ What you hear is that despite the fact that there are guideline , it ’s a strictly immanent interpretation . And that subjectivity ebb and flow rate based on the group that is designating the rating . But we have a lot of fiend . Demons seem , for some intellect , to trigger an radius rating . ”

Ah ! A demonic curse word , then . sure enough that ’s something Constantine as a character can understand . For Lawrence ’s part , he was just let down that he never got a prospect to make a interpretation of the film that tip into its own wickedness and went after the R it would cease up getting anyway , despite the production ’s protests .

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.