‘Miller’s Girl‘ already faced ample backlash when its trailer was released in December. The erotic thriller sparked controversy over its story revolving around an affair between a teacher, played by Martin Freeman, and a student, played by Jenna Ortega. With a huge age difference of 31 years between the two actors people were furious over the idea of them shooting sex scenes together.
Many including Jenna Ortega herself gave out a statement at the time to reassure that she was very comfortable during all the intimate scenes included in the film. Months after the film’s release, Freeman is stepping now up to address the backlash and defend the film’s integrity as “grown-up and nuanced.”
Martin Freeman Says It’s A Shame That Films Based On Sensitive Topics Are Scrutinized
In a recent interview interview with The Sunday Times, the British actor Martin Freeman opened up about his latest film ‘Miller’s Girl’ and the controversy around the sex scenes in the film. The 52-year-old actor reassured that the film in no way seeks to romanticize the relationship between his character and Ortega’s.
“It’s not saying, ‘Isn’t this great,'” Freeman said, speaking of the film that portrays the controversial relationship between a teacher and his student. He spoke about the tendency of people to associate films with sensitive subject matters, adding, “And that’s a shame.”
Freeman drew a parallel to the film ‘Schindler’s List‘, asking if the lead actor of a Holocaust-related film should be subjected to the same scrutiny. “Are we gonna have a go at Liam Neeson for being in a film about the Holocaust?” he asked.
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Jenna Ortega Was Comfortable Doing The Intimate Scenes With Martin Freeman In ‘Miller’s Girl’
Written and directed by Jade Halley Bartlett, ‘Miller’s Girl‘ was released in January this year. The film stars 21-year-old Jenna Ortega as Cairo Sweet, an 18-year-old high school girl. Her character entices her creative writing teacher, played by Freeman in the film.
Though it is not clear in the film whether or not the teacher-student duo has an intimate relationship, there are sex scenes that take place inside Cairo’s imagination. People’s outrage was mostly over the two actors having intimate scenes in the film despite a huge gap between them.
When the controversy first erupted, the film’s intimacy coordinator, Kristina Arjona affirmed that Ortega was comfortable with the material. Arjona emphasized the collaborative nature of the process, ensuring that Ortega’s boundaries were respected throughout.
“There was many, many people throughout this process, engaging with [Ortega] to make sure that it was consistent with what she was comfortable with, and she was very determined and very sure of what she wanted to do,” Arjona told the Daily Mail at the time.
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