Jenna Ortega has finally addressed the 'f****d up' sex scenes she filmed with Martin Freeman.
Back in 2022, it was announced that Ortega, 21 would be working with Freeman, 52, on a new movie called Miller's Girl.
The film hit US cinemas at the start of this year and received mixed reviews due to its rather controversial storyline.
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The movie is about teacher Jonathan Miller (Freeman) and his student Cairo Sweet (Ortega).
After Miller sets Sweet a writing task, their friendship crosses a line and they become engrossed in a complicated relationship.
The synopsis for the thriller reads: “A talented young writer (Ortega) embarks on a creative odyssey when her teacher (Freeman) assigns a project that entangles them both in an increasingly complex web.
“As lines blur and their lives intertwine, professor and protégé must confront their darkest selves while straining to preserve their individual sense of purpose and the things they hold most dear.”
After the movie was released, people said they were 'disturbed' over some of the scenes, with many pointing out the age gap between the two.
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The controversy around the movie escalated further when the intimacy coordinator for Miller's Girl spoke out and said that Ortega was 'comfortable' while filming her sex scenes with Freeman.
However, the comments were rather problematic. According to the Screen Actor's Guild, intimacy coordinators are not really supposed to be discussing that without the actor's consent.
Months on from its release and Ortega has finally spoken about the movie, telling Vanity Fair that 'art isn't always meant to be pleasant'.
She said: “It’s not supposed to be a comfortable movie. It’s supposed to be awful at times.
“Art isn’t always meant to be pleasant or happy, and everyone skips off into the sunset at the end. We all have f****d-up experiences at one point or another.”
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Freeman has also spoken about the film.
In an interview with The Times earlier this year, he said he thought Miller's Girl had provided a 'grown up and nuanced' story.
"It's not saying, 'Isn't this great'," he said of the film, reminding some audiences that depiction doesn't mean endorsement.
Freeman said that 'stories about different subjects' could be 'tainted by association', saying: "And that's a shame. Are we gonna have a go at Liam Neeson for being in a film about the Holocaust?"
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Film director Jade Halley Bartlett has also defended the film, saying she understood there might be a 'knee-jerk reaction' after the trailer was released and calling the movie a 'horror romance'.
She said: "My hope is that people go in and see that it's more nuanced than that. I hope that people go in and can have grace for characters who are not the binary.
"The perfect victim is boring. It's boring to write. It's boring to be.
"I think it is dangerous to keep writing women as the perfect victim because it doesn't allow us any agency."
Topics: Jenna Ortega, Martin Freeman, TV and Film, Celebrity
Lucy Devine