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Actress Carla Gugino Calls 'Watchmen' Rape Scene Brutal

None, of course -- at least not until “Watchmen,” which will keep a violent scene of sexual assault from the comic intact, co-star Carla Gugino told MTV News.

“It was really brutal. It was brutal to shoot,” Gugino said of the scene, in which the Comedian (played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan) attacks an young Sally Jupiter, who only manages to avoid getting raped by the timely intervention of fellow mask Hooded Justice. “That was one of the things [director] Zack [Snyder] said to me from the start: ‘I really want this to be incredibly brutal. It's not a turn-on kind of story. It's bad.’ It's important that we did that. I think hopefully it will be really powerful.”

No matter how uncomfortable, however, it’s ultimately a scene that really HAS to be in the film, Gugino said, since it influences so much of what comes after: Sally’s retirement from crimefighting, her self-image as a sex-symbol, and, of course, her second, consensual, sexual encounter with the Comedian later on.

“It's so informative of so many things thematically in the movie and certainly in the graphic novel, not only for this character but for the Comedian and ultimately [her daughter] Laurie,” Gugino said. “Many things stem from that particular situation.”

But the real question is: are audiences ready for a rape scene in a comic book movie? Sound off below.

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