“Bully” Director Talks about Movie, Being Bullied, MPAA Battle

Independent Films, Talk Shows, Interviews, Film Profiles

I salute Lee Hirsch! He created a documentary that is timely and much-needed. That movie, of course, is “Bully.” The Weinstein Co. film that was previously in limited release is slowly spreading across North America. So if it’s in your town, go watch “Bully!”

In this interview, we talked about:

*** The beginning of making the movie – how did “Bully” come about?
*** How did he choose the brave kids to be featured in the movie?
*** Why Alex’s story resonate the most
*** The MPAA battle – from R to PG-13
*** The film’s hopeful message – can we, as a society, really get over bullying?

But it’s all not dire seriousness in this interview, in the beginning, we were having mic issues, and Mister Hirsch blurted out that I have a lyrical voice, HA!

Transcripts / Production notes / Scripts

Synopsis

Over 18 million young people in the United States will be bullied this year. Here, we follow a disquieting year in the life of several students joining this staggering statistic. As teachers and parents grapple with America's bullying crisis, the students do what they can to survive a school day.

In Theaters • March 30, 2012
MPAA Rating Not Rated (for for some language)
Genres Documentary
Run Time 1 hour 34 minutes
Distributors The Weinstein Company
Box Office $234,164

Tags

• manny the movie guy
• bully
• interview
• director
• Lee Hirsch
• movie review
• film critic
• criticism
• Weinstein Company
• Ellen DeGeneres
• R rating
• rated NC 17
• MPAA
• PG 13
• the most important film of the year
• suicide
• school
• Bullies