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Judging from the trailers, most of us have chalked Will Smith’s upcoming Hancock as another comedy or just some superhero spoof played for laughs with the requisite number of “Hell Nawwws.” But a new article that talks with producers and director Peter Berg reveals that the film has a side that the studios are afraid. Apparently, Hancock isn’t all chuckles and has a serious darker side to him that Sony has decided not to market as aggressively, or at all.

Director Berg casually brings up how up until recently, a statutory rape scene was in the flick, but implies it has since been cut to assure a PG-13 rating. That’s right, Hancock was viewed to be an R-Rated film by the MPAA. Twice. Also gone is a scene where Hancock gets drunk with a 12 year old, though apparently a 17 year old swilling bourbon with the alcoholic hero, who flies drunk, is ok.

The original script, Berg said, from writer Vincent Ngo was surprisingly dark, sexual, and violent – traits which the current cut of Hancock has managed to retain in as many ways as possible. Ngo’s script first appeared on Hollywood radar a decade ago, titled Tonight, He Comes. The flick apparently delves into the curious world of superhero-human relations in ah, uh, sexual, situation, and why that may, or may not, be possible. Healthy. Or safe.

To me, this is great news. I can understand why the studios would be reluctant to advertise the darker side, as most people see Will Smith tossing a whale around and they think comedy. I’ll be honest, watching the second trailer, I was won over and figured this would at least be interesting. I had assumed our rough around the edges hero would clean up his act rather quickly and then it would be a quirky comedy. But the news of darker goings on, alcohol fueled drama, violence, and sex, well hell, that pushes all my buttons. This is very intriguing and should serve to attract even more viewers to the project. I’ll take a ticket to this, no doubt. Let’s also not forget Peter Berg is an awesome director (The Kingdom).

Source: The New York Times

Sound Off: Does a more intense and darker Hancock interest you more than a Will Smith comedy vehicle?