Featured Image Credit: Searchlight
Topics: Celebrity, TV and Film, Golden Globes, UK News
Anish Vij
Emma Stone's sex scene in her new movie had to be re-edited due to UK film law.
The actor's latest film - which won her a Golden Globe on Sunday (7 January) - is yet to be released in Britain as a result.
The Yorgos Lanthimos-led sci-fi comedy drama follows producer and actor Emma Stone's portrayal of Bella Baxter, a young woman brought back to life by unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe).
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On Bella's journey of 'self-discovery and sexual liberation', she runs off with lawyer, Duncan Wedderburn, (Mark Ruffalo) 'on a whirlwind adventure across the continents'.
"Free from the prejudices of her times, Bella grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation," the synopsis reads.
Titled Poor Things, the full cast includes Ramy Youssef, Christopher Abbott, Suzy Bemba, Jerrod Carmichael, Kathryn Hunter, Vicki Pepperdine, Margaret Qualley and Hanna Schygulla.
Over the weekend, the film picked up two Golden Globe awards, as Stone took home the prize for 'Best Performance by a Female Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy'.
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The highly-rated sci-fi flick also won this year's 'Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy' award.
However, there's a reason why in the US the film has already been released (22 December 2023) - and it's all because of the rating.
“We informed the distributor we would be likely to classify the film 18 on condition that changes be made to one short sequence depicting sexual activity in the presence of children,” the British Board of Film Classifications (BBFC) explained in a statement.
“This is in accordance with the Protection of Children Act 1978.
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“When the distributor submitted the film for formal classification, the scene had been re-edited, and we were able to classify the film 18.”
The scene reportedly in question is when a father hires Bella - working as a prostitute - for his two young sons to watch.
BBFC wouldn't have been able to certify the movie as an 18 if the full scene remained in the UK-version.
Opening up about her character, Stone said: “Sex is one aspect of Bella’s experiencing of everything, because there’s travel, there’s dance, there’s food, there’s politics, there’s the concept of money.
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“But with sex, with the discovery of pleasure, I think it’s purely pleasure at the beginning and then it evolves.”
Poor Things director Lanthimos said both he and Stone knew that due to the nature of the source material, the sex scenes played an important part in the movie.
He explained: "It was a very important part of her journey. We felt that we shouldn't shy away from it.
"It would feel very disingenuous to tell this story about this character who is so free and so open, and then be prude about the sexual aspect of it."
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Lanthimos continued: "It was clear from the beginning, but also from the novel, from the script, from my discussions with Emma, as well, and how we came up with those scenes.
"She had to be free; there should be no judgment."
Poor Things will come out in UK cinemas on 12 January.
LADbible has contacted Searchlight Pictures for comment.