James Gunn says he received “nightmare” notes that turned his Scooby Doo script from an R-rated, “more risque” comedy into a family movie: “Everything had to be adjusted to be for kids”

James Gunn says he received some pretty harsh pushback from Warner Bros. when making 2002’s live-action Scooby-Doo, as the studio wanted something a bit more family-friendly.

“The first movie was a nightmare. People know that our first rating was rated R – it was about something stupid; it was not an R-rated movie,” Gunn told The Viall Files podcast, when asked about the notes he received on his 2002 live-action Scooby-Doo movie. “We cut that one thing and then it was PG-13. We had written and directed a movie that was for teenagers, that was basically a little more like Austin Powers – it was more risque.”

As a millennial who grew up on the Scooby-Doo cartoons and was elated when the first-ever live-action movie was announced… I would pay pretty good money to see what this supposed R-rated cut of this very PG Warner Bros. movie.

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The film stars Shaggy (Matthew Lillard), Scooby (voiced by Neil Fanning), Daphne (Sarah Michelle Gellar), Fred (Freddie Prinze Jr.), and Velma (Linda Cardellini), as the one and only Mystery Incorporated, a group of well-known super sleuths who always crack the case. After taking two years off, the gang reunites to investigate a mystery at a popular horror-themed tropical island resort known as Spooky Island. Raja Gosnell directed the pic from a screenplay by Gunn.

Continued Gunn: “They decided that this was a movie completely for family, children, and that everything needed to be adjusted to be for kids. Some of it… they couldn’t get around. The girls’ cleavage was CGI’d [out] because of one test audience member in Sacramento who was like, ‘Why are their dresses so low-cut?’ So both Sarah and Linda’s cleavage was CGI’d out.”

The notes for the sequel Scooby-Doo: Monsters Unleashed, also directed by Gosnell and written by Gunn, must have been a bit different, given that whole scene where Velma wears a super tight latex dress. The film still somehow maintained a PG rating, despite being a bit more violent and having a few more adult jokes. Both films are considered cult classics, even though they did pretty well at the global box office (and have won several Oscars in my house).

Scooby-Doo: The Movie and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed are streaming now on Netflix. For more, check out our list of the best Netflix movies and the best Netflix shows to stream right now.

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