by Erinn R. Johnson - Opponents of smoking in films have asked motion picture industry to add an R rating to any film that contains cigarette smoking.

Scripps Howard Foundation Wire, Washington, D.C. - In last summer's blockbuster film, "Seabiscuit," the jockey character portrayed by Tobey Maguire smokes. So did characters in 1994's "The Shawshank Redemption," a prison drama.

At a Senate hearing last Tuesday (May 10th, 2004), witnesses argued that such depictions make the movies dangerous for children because they glorify smoking and encourage children to smoke.

Dr. Madeline Dalton of Dartmouth Medical School told the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation that children associate smoking with "larger than life" movie stars.

She surveyed children ages 10 to 14 at 14 New England middle schools, finding that half had tried smoking because of exposure from a movie.

Opponents of smoking in films have asked motion picture industry to add an R rating to any film that contains cigarette smoking. In addition, they suggested that anti-smoking public service announcements run before movies in theaters as well as a statement that the film was not paid to portray tobacco use and that tobacco brand names be banned in movies.

Filmmakers, actors and movie executives said they fear that an R rating for smoking will hinder the creative process of movie making. Children under 17 may not attend an R movie without a parent or adult guardian.

"If smoking is essential to the time and place of the story and is indispensable to quickly identify the actor's demeanor and character to advance the narrative, no one ought to intervene in a director's design for telling his story the way he chooses to tell it," said Jack Valenti, chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America.

The Directors Guild of America is taking a more cooperative approach to the issue. The DGA's first mission is to "protect the economic and creative rights of directors and the directional team," said LeVar Burton, co-chair of the DGA's Task Force on Social Responsibility.

He told the committee it would be impossible to make a "Rat Pack movie," for example, without characters who smoked and drank.

"The guild is firm in its belief that allowing a character to smoke is a creative decision to be made by individual directors and that our members' First Amendment rights to free expression must be upheld," Burton said.

Although the DGA does not support a ban on smoking in films, it will support public service announcements to play before audiences view films in which characters use tobacco.

"I'm sure our members would offer their services pro-bono to make these PSA's the best they can possibly be," Burton said.

The Senate committee called on the motion picture industry to act before the government is forced to step in. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., warned: "The ball is in your court. We will stay at it. We gotta see progress."