Lin-Manuel Miranda Explains Edits to PG-13 ‘Hamilton’ Version for Disney Plus
Eleven-time Tony Award-winning musical “Hamilton” will be rated PG-13 due to “language and some suggestive material” when the highly-anticipated film version hits Disney+ on July 3, which raised some questions, as the play’s original script contains enough profanity to land an R rating.
The original version of the show contains the word “f––” multiple times, as well as some stylized sexually suggestive material and gun violence.
According to the Motion Picture Association of America, the organization tasked with rating films exhibited and distributed commercially in the United States, “A motion picture’s single use of one of the harsher sexually-derived words, though only as an expletive, initially requires at least a PG-13 rating. More than one such expletive requires an R rating.”
“Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda took to Twitter Monday to reveal what edits had to be made to secure a more family-friendly rating – throughout its history, Disney has rarely released R-rated content.
“We have 3 “F—” in our show,” Miranda wrote. “I literally gave two f— so the kids could see it: 1. In Yorktown, there’s a mute over “I get the f___ back up again” 2. “Southern record scratchkin’ Democratic Republicans.” You can sing whatEVER you like at home (even sync up the album)!”
…I literally gave two fucks so the kids could see it:
— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) June 22, 2020
1. In Yorktown, there’s a mute over “I get the f___ back up again”
2. “Southern *record scratch*kin’ Democratic Republicans.”
You can sing whatEVER you like at home (even sync up the album)!
Love you. Enjoy.
Featuring the original Broadway cast, the highly-anticipated film was originally set to hit theaters in Oct. 2021 but was bumped up 15 months amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Miranda also revealed Monday that as a result of moving the release date up by so much, alternate language subtitles will become available over time as they are completed, rather than at the film’s debut.
“Hamilton” is a major draw to family-oriented Disney+, which launched last November and has since racked up over 54.5 million subscribers worldwide.