Director of ‘disturbing’ Jenna Ortega scene with Martin Freeman defends film against ‘divisive reactions’

The director of a new erotic thriller spoke out in defence of the film after being met by divisive reactions from viewers.

Jade Halley Bartlett has opened a right can of worms with her latest movie where Jenna Ortega stars as an 18-year-old student who becomes obsessed with her English teacher.

The mysterious educator in question is none other than Sherlock star Martin Freeman, who shares some pretty risqué scenes with his young co-star that have sparked a debate among film fans.

His character, Jonathan Miller, really crosses the boundaries of a close student-teacher relationship while mentoring literary whizz Cairo Sweet (Ortega) - and viewers say they aren't sure who they're supposed to be rooting for.

Take a look at the much talked about trailer for Miller's Girl here:

The synopsis for the movie 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."

A certain suggestive snippet from the Miller's Girl trailer has gone viral in recent days which shows Freeman slowly bending Ortega over a bed while she narrates the scene by reading a ridiculously inappropriate story about a tryst with her teacher.

It's already raised a few eyebrows among viewers, even though the film isn't even out in the UK yet.

The writer and director behind the controversial script spoke out to defend her movie on the day of its release in the US (26 January), insisting that the flick, which she describes as a 'horror romance', isn't smutty in the slightest.

Lionsgate

Miller’s Girl is Bartlett's directorial debut and also her first ever script to get made so its a double celebration for her - but she was always anticipating a strong reaction to the contents of it.

The filmmaker, from East Tennessee, told Screen Rant: "Listen, I'd rather people be talking about it than people thinking it's boring. As a writer, boring is death. So whether you like it or don't like it, if you're talking about it's done its job.

"And I think when people, the trailer looks a way, I get it. I get the knee-jerk reaction.

"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."

Bartlett revealed she wanted to challenge the traditional idea of what makes a villain and a victim with Ortega and Freeman's complex storyline, while explaining that both stars sort of sway between the two throughout Miller’s Girl.

Lionsgate

The director continued: "She (Ortega) doesn't start out as anything. She starts out as a young woman, then as her heart breaks, she turns into something else. But then, once I adapted it to the screen, Me Too happened.

"And I realized I had not one villain, but two. And so as I was sort of working through what I was learning through Me Too and the new feminist movement, I was like, 'Oh s**t, Jonathan (Freeman), I didn't see what he was, just the same way he doesn't see what he is in the film."

She said she hopes that the different layers of Ortega and Freeman's characters translates to viewers.

Bartlett added: "My hope is that even though you know it ain't right, it's so romantic that you're like, okay, and then we make the turn into horror. And what I wanted that sensation to feel like is like you've bitten into a piece of fruit that you think is so sweet, and then you realize that sweetness is rot.

"And so then you've got corpse mouth. That was the intended sensation of the movie."

UK viewers can watch Miller's Girl when it drops on Prime Video on 19 February.