In our weekly seriesAnatomy of a Nude Scene, we're going to be taking a look at (in)famous sexscenes and nude scenes throughout cinema history and examining their construction, their relationship to the film around it, and their legacy. This week, Marisa Tomei shoots a nude scene for Untamed Heart which disappears from the American version only to turn up years later in the European version of the film!
Marisa Tomei's revelatory performance in My Cousin Vinny won her an Oscar and gave the Northeastern United States Italian-American community some great representation on film that wasn't centered around organized crime. It also helped establish her as a leading lady that wouldn't fit the conventional rom-com moldon which Hollywood had long relied. In fact, it seems like she's only just become a standard romantic lead in the last decade or so, though she always manages to weave in some unexpected stuff in the mix with the Hollywood blockbuster type-stuff.
While in the midst of her Oscar campaign for My Cousin Vinny, Marisa headlined the modestly successful romantic drama Untamed Heartalongside Christian Slater and Rosie Perez. The film didn't light the box office on fire, but it was never intended to. Instead it was squarely aimed at the teenage moviegoing audience who would gather on Friday nights or date nights, and who weren't yet old enough to see R-rated movies without mom or dad tagging along. Getting the PG-13 rating that would ensure that possibility became a reality, however, wasn't what Untamed Heart set out to do in the first place.
Director Tony Bill (My Bodyguard, Crazy People) discovered a screenplay titled The Baboon Heart by Tom Serchio, finding it to be an unexpectedly tender and romantic story about a sensitive busboy with a bad heart who falls in love with an unlucky-in-love waitress. Madonna became attachedto play the waitressat one point, lobbying for Jason Patric to play the busboy, but then leaving the project when Billy Baldwin was given the role instead. Ironically, Baldwin would later drop out, but by then, My Cousin Vinny had come out and the director knew he hada leading lady in Tomei.
Marisa stepped into the role of Caroline, the beauty school student and part-time waitress who gets saved from an assault one night by Adam, the quiet busboy she works with—because he was basically stalking her, but we'll put that aside for now. Romance develops between the two but the same assailants return for revenge, stabbing Adam and leaving him in need of a heart transplant. Long story short, he doesn't get one but does die peacefully in his sleep in Tomei's arms all while your girlfriend and every woman who has ever seen this movie weeps uncontrollably.
Just prior to the one-hour mark, Caroline and Adam have a very tender moment of foreplay that basically ends with him breaking down and crying. In the theatrically released version, the scene is shot from a different angle so that Tomei's breasts can't be seen after she takes off her bra. Most Americans were left incredibly disappointed by this until another version of the film, this one from Europe, began to circulate with a different scene. This time, when she takes off her bra, we can actually see her breasts...
So why did Europe get a version of the film with Tomei topless while the US had to settle for a PG-13 non-nude version of the scene? The MPAA, of course. If there's been a recurring villain in this column, it's the MPAA for sure. MGM was terrified that the film wouldn't appeal to adults enough to get them to turn out for the flick, so a PG-13 rating might help them get the less-discerning teen audience into the theater for sure. The MPAA's only request was that Tomei's topless scene get cut and they could have their PG-13 rating.
Prior to the digital era, many films would shoot two versions of certain scenes for the so-called "airplane cut" of a film, basically a nude scene or violent scene that couldn't be shown as the in-flight movie on an airplane. For example,Saturday Night Fever's PGversionmostly consists of these scenes edited back into the film, and these kinds of scenes will tend to show up a lot on television broadcasts of films. Therefore, it's not outside the realm of possibility that Bill had already shot a tamer version of the topless scene and then just put it into the film once the MPAA requested the cut.
That doesn't necessarily account for it, but it does give us our most plausible explanation for how the film was altered without any reshoots or other typical studio measures that would normally provide some sort of traceable backstory. Unfortunately none exists, other than the fact that there are two versions of the film whose only difference is this single scene. Thankfully the "European" version has become the standard version now and last year's Blu-ray release of the film featured the cut with Marisa Tomei nude debut. If you're looking to catch the original PG-13 version these days, wait for it to come on TV... or check the airplane movie selection the next time you fly.
Catch up withour most recent editions ofAnatomy of a Nude Scene
—Cybill Shepherd is Uncomfortably Relatable in The Last Picture Show
—Penelope Cruz Does Very Different Nude Scenes Playing the Same Role inOpen Your EyesandVanilla Sky
—Joyce Hyser Becomes an 80s Icon inJust One of the Guys
—Charlize Theron Lands on the Map with2 Days in the Valley
—SirensMay be Plural, But All Eyes Were on Elle MacPherson
—Eva Green's Star is Born in Bertolucci'sThe Dreamers
—Phoebe Cates Takes a Dip and Becomes a Legend inFast Times at Ridgemont High
—Kim Basinger Gets All Wet for Mickey Rourke in9½ Weeks
—Molly Ringwald Does Her Only Topless Scene inMalicious
—Straw DogsRaises That Pesky Issue of Consent
—No Amount of Plausible Deniability Can Excuse What's Going On inCaligula
—The Devil's AdvocateFills Our Eyes with Double Vision
—Schlockmeister Ed Wood Transitions to Booby Movies withOrgy of the Dead
—36-Year Old Diane Lane Plays a MILF inUnfaithful
—Natalie Portman Goes Nude in Wes Anderson's Short FilmHotel Chevalier
**Click Here to Read All Past Editions of Anatomy of a Nude Scene/Anatomy of a Scene's Anatomy**
