‘Bound’ Director Teases NC-17 Version Of Iconic Film

Featured Image: Jason Mendez/Getty Images for Tribeca Festival

Every self-respecting sapphic cinephile has seen Bound, but which version? According to co-director Lilly Wachowski, there’s a version floating around with a sex scene that’s even spicier—but that didn’t make the final cut in the U.S.

The iconic film about a lesbian ex-con (Gina Gershon) helping her lover (Jennifer Tilly) escape from her mobster boyfriend (Joey Pantoliano) and steal $2 million from the mob celebrated its 30th anniversary with a Tribeca Film Festival screening in New York City. There, Wachowski appeared alongside stars Gershon, Tilly, Pantoliano, and Christopher Meloni for a conversation about Bound’s production and place in history.

According to Vulture critic Caroline Framke, the discussion eventually turned to the Motion Picture Association’s attitude towards the sex scene between Tilly and Gershon’s characters. More specifically, the MPAA apparently took issue with the fact that it seemed a little too real—possibly because of the emotion and connection between the characters rather than actual nudity.

“It was a very beautiful, intense scene where you see two women really connect and were making love,” Gershon recalled. “And they were like, ‘No, no, we can’t show that.’”

Wachowski went on to explain that they initially tried just toning down the violence to get the MPAA to let Bound through with an R rating rather than NC-17.

“We cut out a couple of gunshots. But when we returned with the same sex-scene shot, they were like, ‘No, this lesbian sex scene has to be different,’” she told the audience. 

That Bound faced issues trying to shake that NC-17 rating isn’t breaking news; it’s been discussed by the creative team multiple times over the years. But it’s still fascinating to know that a movie known for having one of, if not the best lesbian sex scene in film history actually had an even more intense version.

Additionally, Wachowski admitted during that panel that some foreign versions of Bound actually still have the original scene intact. 

Now, the unrated version of the DVD does have some additional footage. Is it the same? Or is there even more Bound out there for us to discover? Clearly the only way to find out is to buy up every single version of the film and check them all. Or at least, that definitely sounds like the most enjoyable method of solving this mystery.