Quote of the Day

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"Gratuitous" is a word I've been tossing off around here at MNPP since the very beginning - it seemed a good tongue-in-cheek way to sum up our dogged devotion to documenting the man-flesh. It recognizes both the spectacle and the silliness. It's a good solid word. The phrase "gratuitous nudity" must be reclaimed from the sex-hating ninnies - it is our friend. Too much? There can never be too much! Anyway there's an interview with Steven Soderbergh over here, he's making the rounds in the gay press with Behind the Candelabra, and the word came up so how could I not quote it?

Question: Not that I was counting, but there were three Matt Damon ass shots. When is an ass shot necessary and when is it gratuitous?

Steven Soderbergh: In this case, it would've been more awkward and distracting if you somehow didn't show it. But none of that was planned. Matt's in his robe and he gets into bed, and in another scene he's getting out of the hot tub. It's all stuff that was motivated; I guess that's really what it comes down to.

"Gratuitous" means they're doing something they wouldn't normally do to create an ass shot, and that's not how we were thinking. Though I certainly had it in mind when Matt came to the set and said, "You're not gonna believe the Brazilian tan line I got from the spray guy. The world has to see this."

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