Atom Egoyan has a reputation as a cool, cerebral figure. But the truth is that he’s passionate about many things – among them censorship. That’s why his tussle with the Motion Picture Association of America over Where the Truth Lies rankles so much.

The MPAA recently slapped an NC-17 rating on his racy, big-budget thriller – a move that threatens to severely limit the reach of what is, ironically, one of his more mainstream movies.

‘It’s so upsetting that they can decide in a completely subjective way,’ he says.

The rating stems from a three-way sex scene between stars Kevin Bacon, Rachel Blanchard and Colin Firth. Egoyan says the scene is crucial, ‘because it gives us access to the emotional needs of the main characters in the film.’

‘It was important to me to express the sexual lives of the characters in a non-exploitive way,’ he goes on, ‘so I shot the film in one take. There is only a master shot. I have no option to show the scene from different camera angles.’

As Playback went to press, Egoyan was off to L.A. for a Sept. 7 hearing, looking to talk the MPAA and the National Association of Theatre Owners down to a more marketable R rating – which allows under-17-year-olds to attend if accompanied by an adult. NC-17 films are open only to anyone 18 or older and often suffer at the box office.

The MPAA’s economic clout is considerable. Theater chains that adhere to its ratings control most of the conservative ‘red states.’ That’s why Egoyan feels that ‘the MPAA really are a censor board, though they like to say that they’re a classification group.’

In a recent statement, the MPAA explained that it rates films according to the tastes of most American parents, which to Egoyan sounds ‘like the Ontario Censor Board in the ’80s, when they used to ban films, saying that ‘It might be okay in Toronto but we have to reflect the rural areas, too.”

Egoyan parodied the provincial board in his 1991 feature The Adjuster, in which his wife Arsinée Khanjian played a censor who secretly taped porn films. In 2001, he also vocally opposed its ban of Catherine Breillat’s Fat Girl, which also starred Khanjian.

Where the Truth Lies is set for a platform release in the U.S. through ThinkFilm on Oct. 14. If it receives an R rating, it will play in cities such as New York and L.A., gathering reviews and publicity, before moving into wide release. If the NC-17 stands, ThinkFilm says it will seek out venues wherever possible, but its options will be limited.

In Canada, Where the Truth Lies is rated R and will open wide on Oct. 7, again through ThinkFilm.

Egoyan’s most controversial earlier films, Exotica and The Sweet Hereafter, both received R ratings in the U.S. and AA in Canada.