We all knowJenna Ortegafrom playing Wednesdayin Netflix’s Addams Family spin-off, released in 2022. But the star takes on a completely different role in her latest film, Miller’s Girl, where her intimate scene with Martin Freeman is already causing a stir online.
HighlightsJenna Ortega stars in a controversial role opposite Martin Freeman in ‘Miller’s Girl’.Fans expressed discomfort over intimate scenes due to a 31-year age gap between Ortega and Freeman.The film ignited a debate on the appropriateness of depicting relationships with significant age differences.
The pair enter into a complicated relationship following a creative writing assignment, leading Miller to riskhis marriage and job to help Cairo.
In reality, Ortega is 21, and Freeman is 52, an age gap of 31 years.
A steamy scene between Jenna Ortega, 21, and Martin Freeman, 52, in the new comedy-drama “Miller’s Girl” has left some viewers disturbed
What most raised concerns online was an intimate scene between the two stars that many people deemed “inappropriate” and “disgusting.”
Someone took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to respond to the sex scene, writing, “Jenna Ortega and Martin Freeman… I’m uncomfortable.”
Another user said: “This Jenna Ortega/Martin Freeman film is so gross! So, so, so, so gross!”
“Just saw a thread of Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) groping Jenna Ortega in new show, strange times,” somebody else wrote on the platform.
In the film, Ortega plays 18-year-old student Cairo Sweet, who becomes romantically entangled with her married English professor, Jonathan Miller
Image credits:Lionsgate
Some users brought the stark age difference between the actors to the attention, remarking that “when Martin Freeman was in his 40s, Jenna Ortega was 10 years old.”
“That jenna ortega martin freeman clip might b the worst thing i’ve ever seen,” another fan complained.
“Everyone is freakin out abt [sic] this movie ‘Miller’s Girl’ because of the age difference,” they wrote on X.
“But really, Hobbits age differently than us. For every one year of our life, that equals three of theirs. So, in reality, Martin Freeman is only like 17 1/2. Jenna Ortega is the cradle robber.”
People have pointed out the 31-year age gap between both actors, labeling the sex scene “inappropriate” and “disgusting”
Meanwhile, some have tried to normalize the relationship, reminding everyone that Ortega is 21 years old: “She’s not really Wednesday or a high school student. She’s an adult, and this was a scene for a movie.”
Plus, intimacy coordinator Kristina Arjona has revealed to theDailyMailthat Jenna was involved in decisions about the curation of the racy moments, ensuring “it was consistent with what she was comfortable with.”
Ortega and Freeman’s wasn’t the first on-screen relationship with a significant age gap to leave viewers disturbed.
The award for the biggest age difference between romantic leads in a film goes to 1999’s Entrapment. In the film, a then 29-year-old Catherine Zeta-Jones played an investor for an insurance firm whogot involvedwith Sean Connery, 68 at the time, who played a thief specializing in international art.
The movie is currently being shown in US theaters
“Miller’s Girl,” which runs for an hour and 33 minutes, currentlyhas a scoreof 5,5/10 on IMDB.
Director, writer, and producer Jade Halley Bartlett recently praised Ortega’s performance in an interview withWhatToWatch, saying, “[Ortega] scared the s**t out of me. She definitely went to a place with Cairo that… it’s even tricky to explain
“There are some moments that Jenna has when she is looking at Jonathan or when she is talking to him when she is like I almost believe… she’s like a vampire, like a 900-year-old vampire.
“There’s something very ancient that she does that really scares the s**t out of me, excuse my language.”
She also said that she didn’t have the typical villain-victim dynamic in Cairo and Jonathan’s story.
“All of these characters, nobody is good or bad. I think both of these characters — having the perfect victim and the perfect villain, that’s boring, and it’s not real.“The characters to me, through the development of this from a play to the screen, became so much richer because they are all the facets of real people.”
Watch the trailer for “Miller’s Girl” below
While theLA Timescalled the film “bad but entertaining” and “pure unintentional camp,”Varietywrote thatBartlett’swork “delivers a tale whose transgressions are stylish but disappointingly predictable.”
Ortega made headlines last year afterdropping outof her role in Scream VII, reportedly due to scheduling conflicts.
She will soon star in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the much-anticipated Beetlejuice sequel, a follow-up to Tim Burton’s 1988 cult classic.
The Warner Bros film is set to be released on 6 September 2024, with original stars Winona Ryder and Michael Keaton reprising their roles as Lydia Deetz and Beetlejuice, respectively.
“When Martin Freeman was in his 40s, Jenna Ortega was 10 years old,” someone wrote
Saimonas Lukošius
Linas Simonaitis
Entertainment
