Sex with a 30-year age difference and then between a teacher and a student – something like that might have been acceptable in the 1970s, but today it arouses more disgust than admiration. The sex scenes between 21-year-old Jenny Ortega and Martin Freeman in the film “Miller’s Girl” were found by critics and viewers to be “disgusting”. Freeman was known worldwide as the oddball Dr. Watson is known worldwide in the BBC’s Sherlock films alongside Benedict Cumberbatch. He is now 51 and looks older too.
This is not the first time that Disney star Jenny Ortega has performed such a scene with a much older man. The previous horror film “X” is much more violent and probably only caused less outrage because the work between the porn and slasher genres was overlooked by the cultural scene. “X” is about a strip club owner who sets out with his employees and friends to make a cheap porn film in the late 1970s. Title of the planned work: “The Farmer’s Daughter”. As you would expect from this title, the pornographic goings-on in a remote farmhouse eventually lead to a bloody massacre. Just like what happens when you make a wrong turn in Texas. But before that, eroticism is lavishly staged in the look of the late 1970s. Ortega plays the cameraman’s shy girlfriend, who falls under the spell of the filming and ends up getting into bed with the rapper Kid Cudi in front of the camera. Kid Cudi wasn’t over 50 at the time, but at least 39, while Ortega was only 19 years old.
IndieWire interviewed her about the role. Ortega said: “I had never read anything like this before and it was extremely enticing to me. I love that my character starts out in a certain direction and then flips the script in the middle of the film.” She never felt uncomfortable; everything on set was designed to make her feel comfortable and safe. “I was really eager to do something I had never done before.” She was particularly fascinated by the development of the character, a reserved, pious girl. Her sex scene was not originally planned. She joined later spontaneously.
In “Millers Girl” Jenna Ortega plays high school student Cairo, who is driven by the hunger to finally experience something. She enrolls in a creative writing course. Led by washed-up writer Jonathan Miller (Freeman). When the frustrated man discovers that Cairo has his own novel as well as the sex-heavy works of Henry Miller, a fateful affair begins.
The intimacy coordinators for both films have since detailed how they protected the actress and made sure Ortega didn’t have to do anything she didn’t want to. It’s just unlikely to be of any use. The massive rejection of many viewers does not necessarily seem to be related to concern for Ortega. The days of films like “The Last Tango in Paris” are over. Many viewers simply don’t want to see scenes in which old men have sex with very young girls. One user angrily posted: “I think I’m finally done watching these movies with such age gaps. They’re all disgusting and I’m sick of it. No Jenna Ortega or Martin Freeman can save this!”
Those: IndieWire
