Deleted Orgy Scene in 'Middle Men' May Begin a Trend Combining Hollywood with Porn 2.0 Websites

Luke Wilson's new movie, "Middle Men", which is based on the true story of early Internet porn pioneers, has had one of its most graphic and controversial scenes deleted.

During the middle of the movie, there was a scene, approximately a minute and a half in length, that had Wilson's character Jack Harris walking through an orgy. He appears to be looking for somebody and walks past several couples, and groups, of people in all states of undress as they have various forms of sex.

The producers decided to eliminate the scene as its inclusion would have given the film an NC-17 rating. While at first blush, the cutting of the orgy scene would seem to be a blow to the producers of the movie, the reality is that we live in a very different world now and the scene in question may actually end up being viewed more by not being included in the movie than it would have had it stayed in.

Already, the concept of Porn 2.0 on the Internet has fundamentally changed the adult entertainment industry. Free websites offer a vast library of amateur and professional porn for free. But in the case of "Middle Men", a prominent Porn 2.0 website called PornHub has the deleted orgy scene available for viewing.

While there is no direct evidence that the producers of the movie designed it this way, what better way is there to create buzz for a movie than by shooting a graphic scene that would never be included in an R rated movie, and then simply "leaking" it to a free website? The producers and investors in the film can then have their cake and eat it too, in a sense, by having the scene or scenes as part of the overall movie experience, creating advanced buzz for it, and yet still keeping the R rating. R rated movies will always do better than NC-17 versions as far more people will go to an R rated film than they will a NC-17 movie. Also, in several parts of the country, movie theaters themselves will not show NC-17 films.

As Middle Men is soon to be released, the timing of the 'leaked' scene to PornHub will undoubtedly create interest in the movie (there have already been nearly 200,000 views in about two days on the site), while allowing the movie to be shown in so called respectable theaters everywhere.

Whether this was simply happenstance or not, it will be interesting to see in whether more movies follow suit by putting 'cut' scenes out on Porn 2.0 websites to generate interest and buzz. For a journeyman actor, Luke Wilson may be remembered for "Middle Men" far more than he ever realized he would be...all thanks to a deleted orgy scene.

Source: Staff Reporter, "Luke Wilson's New Movie -- Deleted Orgy Scene", tmz.com