The director behind the much-talked-about new movie Miller's Girl has spoken out about the controversy surrounding the movie.
Last month, a new movie hit theaters that left some Jenna Ortega fans having to scrape their jaws from the sticky popcorn-covered floor.
Miller's Girl was originally penned as a play by Jade Halley Bartlett back in 2011, and gained further recognition when it appeared on the 2016 Black List. It would eventually premiere at the 2024 Palm Springs Film Festival before being released in theaters on January 26.
However, as more and more people see the movie, more and more people are complaining.
In the movie, 21-year-old Ortega plays 18-year-old student Cairo Sweet, who becomes romantically entangled with her teacher Jonathan, played by 52-year-old Martin Freeman.
The movie sees the stars act out some pretty raunchy scenes, which has led to viewers flocking to social media to call out the "gross" age gap between the actors.
Check out the pair in action below:One user wrote on X: "I think I am finally done watching these age gap movies. They are all gross, and I am tired of it. No amount of Jenna Ortega or Martin Freeman could save this one for me."
Others echoed similar sentiments, with comments like: "MARTIN FREEMAN WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO JENNA ORTEGA" and "Jenna Ortega and Martin Freeman… I’m uncomfortable"
Some users pointed out the stark age difference between the actors, with one remarking: "When Martin Freeman was in his 40s Jenna Ortega was 10 years old."
However, the movie's director - Jade Halley Bartlett - has spoken to WhatToWatch about how she hopes the "controversy" can be minimized.
Miller's Girl is being released in theaters, which Bartlett hopes will allow people to be fully submerged in everything the movie has to offer.
"To have it be released theatrically, for audiences to get the opportunity to sit in a theater and experience the score, the aesthetic, the language; to get to experience that in a space where they're not going to be looking at their little screen with their other screen, they're going to see it the way I intended it to be seen," she said, before addressing the initial backlash to the flick.
"I think a lot of the initial reactions — you know there's controversy around the movie and I hope that in that situation they can immerse themselves and surprise themselves with what the story actually is versus what their biases of what the story is," she said, before explaining: "Because it's a play on a trope, it's my version of breaking this trope."
Elsewhere in the interview, Bartlett opened up about working with the Wednesday Addams star, admitting that she "scared the s**t" out of her.
"She definitely went to places with Cairo that… it's even tricky to explain," the director said. "Cairo thinks she is such an adult, but she's not. She's an isolated young woman who is a ghost in her house. Her entire education about romance is from 18th and 19th-century literature and old movies, which are inherently problematic, right? But she thinks she is such a grownup.
"And 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."
Miller's Girl is out in theaters in the US now.
