TP Matt was like, ''Dude, there's no genitalia, no pubic hairs, no nothing.'' I'm like, ''Dude, you watch. They're totally going to have a problem.'' And they did. I mean, they wanted us to cut all of it — at first they said just missionary position. Not a word about blowing Janeane Garofalo's head off.
MS The part I really hated on this movie — and it was the same on the South Park movie — is that all the marketing has to be G-rated. So we can't really make the trailer funny because we can't put any of the jokes in. We're forced to give people this little f---ing Henson movie thing. It's a disservice to everybody.
TP You don't understand how many places I go and the movie will come up, and they'll say, ''My kids want to see that.'' I'm like, ''No no no, it's not a kids' film.'' We obviously want to position it as: This is a filthy f---ing film. The MPAA will not let you [do] that.
EW You've had a history of tangles with the MPAA: You got an NC-17 with the independent film Orgazmo; the South Park movie almost didn't get an R.
TP There was a point on the South Park movie when it was still an NC-17, and it had to go be printed. [Rudin] made a phone call and it became an R. And we didn't touch the film at all. [Rudin confirms this; the MPAA denies it.] With the studios, the MPAA will negotiate an R. But with independent filmmakers, it's just ''No, f--- you.'' That is really wrong, and not only wrong, it's super illegal. The studios can tell the MPAA what to do, so it's a censorship group run by the big studios that can [tell] the independent filmmakers to just get outta here. So basically, as soon as this run of South Park is over, we're going to f---ing sue these people. We're going to dedicate the whole next year to suing the MPAA. Something that has that much effect on that many people's lives and that much money and that much business cannot be that arbitrary . . . On [the final round of the movie's ratings], we'd made some cuts and they said that the tape is in the hands of some woman. She's taking it home and watching it tonight. I was thinking: ''This is two and a half years of people's lives, some $45 million, and some [woman] is going home with a videotape and is going to decide the fate of that film. And she's completely unregulated . . . '' That's wrong, and it's illegal, and we're going to do something about it. [The MPAA insists it gives studio and indie films equal treatment, and that a ratings decision is never made by one person.]
EW You've said your relationship with Paramount was good this round. But giving up all that Team America money must have hurt.
TP That part sucked. [But] even though they totally raped us in terms of our fees, there did come a switch where they became completely supportive of the movie. And at the end of the day that's all that matters, because I already have money, you know?
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