Determined to bring in as many filmgoers as possible, Lionsgate utilized modern technology to transform the thriller Fall from an R-rated film into a PG-13 release. The film had been shot when the studio wanted to acquire the distribution rights for a theatrical run in the United States. Given that it’s a harrowing movie about two terrified young women facing great danger while stranded at the top of a radio tower, there had been F-bombs scattered all throughout the dialogue.

This was an issue for Lionsgate, as the movie in that form would have guaranteed an R-rating. If there hadn’t been so much harsh language, Fall could be given a PG-13 release which could increase ticket sales when the film makes its way to theaters. One option would have been to reshoot those scenes with different dialogue, though that would be a costly endeavor. The cheaper and faster option is to use digital technology to have the F-bombs removed, so to clean up the film for Lionsgate, that’s apparently what director Scott Mann did.

Per Variety, Mann just happens to be a co-CEO of Lawless, a company that uses a TrueSync AI-based system to improve dubbing for films to be released in different languages. It’s similar to the popular “deepfake” technology that has been used to imagine certain actors in different roles with TrueSync altering mouth movements to match the audible dialogue. Mann realized he could use this tech to get rid of the foul language in Fall.

“For a movie like this, we can’t reshoot it. We’re not a big tentpole… we don’t have the resources, we don’t have the time, more than anything else,” Mann says of the film’s low budget. “What really saved this movie and brought it into a wider audience was technology.”

He added, “When we were filming the movie, we didn’t know if we were R or if we were PG-13, so I said the F-word so many times I think Scott wanted to kill me in post when we were trying to get a PG-13 rating.” Gardner said.

“Now we’re now stuck on this stupid freaking tower in the middle of freaking nowhere,” Virginia Gardner’s character now says in one redubbed scene of the film.

Fall Puts Two Women 2,000 Feet Above Ground

     Lionsgate

Fall stars Grace Caroline Currey (Shazam!), Virginia Gardner (Marvel’s Runaways), Mason Gooding (Scream), and Jeffrey Dean Morgan (The Walking Dead). The movie will hit movie theaters on Friday, Aug. 12. There’s at least a dash of swearing that’s been left in, as, officially, it has been rated PG-13 for “bloody images, intense peril, and strong language.” You can check out the official trailer and synopsis below.