Margot Stilley has explained why her name was removed from the credits of a film infamous for its unsimulated sex scenes.
She starred in Michael Winterbottom's 2004 film 9 Songs alongside Kieran O'Brien.
The pair played Matt and Lisa, a pair of transatlantic lovers whose relationship is told through a series of sexual encounters following several different rock concerts.
Intending to be a small indie, arthouse film, 9 Songs would find itself at the centre of a cultural storm after its release due to the intimate scenes between Stilley and O'Brien featuring real, unsimulated sex.
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The film also garnered further controversy after an initial cast list from the film had Stilley only listed as character name Lisa - prompting news outlets at the time to run 'hotlines' looking for information on her identity.
Speaking to LADbible about the film for the first time since 2008, Stilley, now 41 and a new mother, has now revealed that she'd never intentionally tried to get her name taken off the credits.
“I said, ‘oh just put me on as Lisa’ at the Cannes screenings which were not public, then the press got it and The News of the World ran a hotline for anyone who had information on who I was,” Stilley recalled.
“I then realised I was causing a lot of ruckus,” the actress added, joking that her decision was a stroke of unintentional ‘marketing genius’.
It's easy to know now – in our hyper-connected world – that a film such as 9 Songs would receive a strong reaction.
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However, Stilley explained that back in 2004 she hadn’t expected it would get so much attention, adding that 9 Songs had originally been intended as ‘small independent arthouse film’.
Much to the surprise of the cast and crew, the opposite happened, with Winterbottom forced to add more screenings for the film as so many people wanted to watch it. And they were definitely not a fringe, arthouse crowd.
"We had a small market screening and people were queuing to try and get into it, they had to put on extra screenings, and we had more press coverage than all the films in competition put together,” the director told the BBC back in 2005.
Alongside the firestorm of media attention, the flick also received an immense amount of backlash for its unsimulated sex scenes.
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Critics debated whether the use or real sex and ejaculation meant it should be considered a porn film, former MP Ann Widdecombe complained about it in the House of Commons and it received a score of just 24 percent on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes.
Stilley – who only 21 at the time – confided that the reaction was ‘extremely overwhelming’ for her at the time.
“I just didn't think would be that interested. I was so wrong,” she recalled with a laugh. “I didn't understand that I would become the target of Britain's repressed sexuality and all the rage that comes with sexual repression [and] as the woman I was the figurehead for it.”
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The backlash and slut-shaming is something Stilley still has to endure to this day – thanks to the development of the modern internet.
She revealed she still suffers ‘greatly’ from her name being linked to porn sites – “It’s not Michael’s name and it’s not Kieran’s name on there. It’s my name.” – as well as film clips making their way onto explicit websites.
“I think it's one of my greatest heartbreaks. To find that out about the world,” she added.
Despite the overwhelming response, Stilley still stands by the film to this day, revealing that she ‘loves’ the film and cried at the ending while watching it back a ‘few years ago’.
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For those who haven't seen it, it ends with Lisa returning to the US after her time studying in London is over while Matt is later seen gazing out at the icy wilderness of Antarctica as he heads out to research the terrain.
She also 'doesn’t remember' being apprehensive about the unsimulated sex scenes (which clock in at around 35 minutes), explaining that she had developed the character with ‘amazing filmmaker’ Winterbottom before shooting began.
“It's a shame that it's been torn apart into these little pieces and bastardised online, to be honest,” she said.
O'Brien was similarly proud of the movie, telling The Guardian in 2005 that he was the 'opposite of ashamed' of the film's graphic scenes.
So, after 20 years of controversy, did Silley have anything she wished she could tell her younger self? Turns out she has one piece of advice.
“I would just say don't take it personally,” she said. “Enjoy yourself… and don’t take it personal.”
Topics: Cannes Film Festival, Film, Sex and Relationships, Originals
Brenna Cooper