Emma Stone has hit back at criticism over the sex scenes in her latest movie, which have caused a stir among viewers.
The actor spoke out about the controversial scenes in a new interview, explaining why they were 'extremely important' to the movie.
The flick - which hit cinemas just one week ago - follows Bella Baxter (Emma Stone), a Victorian era woman brought back to life by a scientist, as she goes on a sexually liberating journey with lawyer Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), travelling the world and discovering herself.
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The black comedy fantasy film - titled Poor Things - received several nominations at the Golden Globes and Critics' Choice Awards, with Stone taking home Best Actress at both ceremonies.
The film also won Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical at the Golden Globes.
That's one way to shut the haters up.
Despite the film being received well by critics though, it hasn't stopped members of the general public from questioning the number of graphic scenes in the film, or just how explicit they were.
Stone has responded to all of these claims in an interview with BBC Radio 4's Front Row show.
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Host Samira Ahmed remarked that the explicit scenes were 'quite graphic' and 'unusual' as we don't see them 'these days in Hollywood'.
The 35-year-old responded: "I see it [sex] as just one aspect of many [in the film]: her discovery of food, philosophy, travel and dance. Sex is another aspect.”
The Oscar winner added: “One of the things that we had talked about from very early on, and I thought was extremely important, was that Bella is completely free and without shame about her body."
She went on to explain that Bella 'doesn't know when to be embarrassed' by these things and emphasised how important it was to include the scenes to stay true to the character and the film.
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“So for the camera to sort of shy away from that, or to say, ‘OK, well, we’ll just cut all of this out because our society functions in a particular way’…felt like a lack of being honest about who Bella is,” she added.
The La La Land star made it clear that she doesn't want to be 'naked all the time', but felt that it was necessary to represent Bella in Poor Things.
“But I am someone who wants to honour the character as fully as I possibly can. That’s part of her journey, so who am I to say that should be shameful?”
Poor Things is in cinemas now.
Topics: Celebrity, TV and Film
Joshua Nair