Jenna Ortega publicly addressed the ongoing debate about her relationship with a person 30 years older than she is.
Headlines often feature Ortega because she speaks out about Johnny Depp rumors and defends her explicit movie scenes from when she was 19.
Public scrutiny has returned to confront Ortega due to her latest significant age-difference relationship.
Miller’s Girl features her as one-half of its leading cast opposite Martin Freeman in a movie that sparked a divisive reaction.
Even though Ortega defended Miller’s Girl it received widespread negative response when it was released. Many audiences shared their unease through social media platforms.
X commentator gave their opinion about the movie in a post: “so gross! So, so, so, so gross!”
Someone directed negative commentary at a particular scene: “The worst thing I’ve ever seen,” A different person sent their message straight to Freeman as they posted: “MARTIN FREEMAN WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO JENNA ORTEGA.”
During her recent interview with Vanity Fair, the 22-year-old actress discussed criticisms about her character Cairo Sweet’s relationship with Freeman’s teacher role Jonathan Miller.
Following its January 2024 release the film portrays an unethical relationship between an educator and student which resulted in public controversy because of the 30-year difference between the two main actors.
The discomfiting basic concept became clear when Ortega explained: “It’s not supposed to be a comfortable movie. It’s supposed to be awful at times.”
She further elaborated: “Art isn’t always meant to be pleasant or happy, [where] everyone skips off into the sunset at the end. We all have f–ked up experiences at one point or another.”
Freeman defended the film’s intent when he answered criticisms during an earlier part of the year. During his April interview for The Times he stressed: “The film is grown-up and nuanced. It’s not saying, ‘Isn’t this great?’”
He claimed that such criticism mirrored how people challenge actors who take on challenging roles in different movies and continued: “Are we gonna have a go at Liam Neeson for being in a film about the Holocaust?”
The film’s intimacy coordinator Kristina Arjona expressed her views on the current controversy.
According to her February interview with the Daily Mail, Ortega had complete knowledge of and consented to the scenes she acted in.
“There were many, many people throughout this process engaging with [Ortega] to make sure that it was consistent with what she was comfortable with,” said Arjona.
Throughout simulated sexual scenes modesty garments along with other protective measures were employed to maintain appropriate boundaries.
Jade Halley Bartlett directs the film which includes supporting roles by Dagmara Domińczyk as well as Bashir Salahuddin and performances from Gideon Adlon and Christine Adams.
Miller’s Girl became a box office disappointment when it barely made $900,000 internationally against its $4 million production expenses.
Rotten Tomatoes shows Miller’s Girl earned a 29% score from critics but a slightly higher 42% from audiences.
