Bruno

By Quinn Bender
movieset.com

Variety is reporting Universal Pictures will simultaneously release a tamer version of its controversial offering, Bruno, so that younger British movie-goers can get around its current 18-and-over rating.

Perhaps due to the movie's disappointing opening at the box office, the filmmakers resubmitted Bruno to the The British Board of Film Classification after deleting a minute and a half worth scenes containing the movie's strongest sexual depictions and references. The abandoned footage includes a montage of exaggerated sexual activity, the miming of various sexual acts and scenes from a swingers' party.

Universal decided to cut the film after scores of the underage fans that made Sasha Baron Cohen's last film, Borat, such a runaway success were turned away at the theatre.

Vying now for a less restrictive "15" rating, the studio hopes Bruno and his myriad of perversions can reach that younger, impressionable audience.