GS: How did this project come about for you? With the discussion about a constitutional amendment to prevent gay marriage, there appear to be strong feelings about certain sexual relationships.

BC: The thing that seems clear to me is that Kinsey was trying to take morality out of the discussion of science. Gay marriage is one thing and stem cell research is another, but what disturbs me the most is AIDS in Africa. Of the $5 billion that has been earmarked, $800 million is for abstinence education. Science now comes with moral strings attached.

The marriage course that Kinsey taught came out of the nationwide VD epidemic of the late ’30s. Students were arguing for these courses because they were completely in the dark. The overall argument is much the same, as it’s either science or abstinence.

GS: What was the process in getting an "R" rating for the film? Did you have to fight to keep it from being a "NC-17," or did that even matter?

BC: It did matter. We signed a contract that said we would deliver an "R" rated film. It’s very hard to get a movie distributed and advertised with an NC-17 rating, so that is kind of a de facto censorship. What I was most worried about was what the whole film leads to. You are in this period movie in the Midwest, where people are wearing argyle sweaters, in a pretty setting, and then comes this revolutionary figure who steps into a classroom where most sex education was scary VD movies and he shows us close up slides of aroused genitalia. You may be used to seeing that in a movie but not with well known actors. The MPAA decided to give it a hard "R" rating with a "thank you" because they felt they learned a lot. They did not ask us to make any changes, which was pretty amazing.

GS: I thought that the frontal nudity shot of Peter Sarsgaard might cause a ratings problem.

BC: (Laughing) It could have been that too, as well as a woman masturbating on camera. Peter has made a joke about how he’s a little offended that his frontal nudity did not earn an NC-17 rating.

GS: What thoughts do you want people to have when they leave the film?

BC: To acknowledge that everyone’s sexuality is different. That does not mean men or women (as in gay or lesbian) but every part of you. The struggle is not to let a need to belong distort ones individuality. If people will ask where am I on that scale I’ll be satisfied.

This thought provoking film is often entertaining, at times disturbing and always enlightening. It opens on November 19^th.