Why Emma Stone Defends The Poor Things Sex Scenes That Made Mark Ruffalo Nervous
Director Yorgos Lanthimos' latest project, a twist on "Frankenstein" called "Poor Things," focuses on a woman named Bella (Emma Stone), who is brought back from the dead by a mad scientist (Willem Dafoe) and goes on to have a sexual awakening with a lawyer named Duncan (Mark Ruffalo). For his part, Ruffalo was a bit nervous about shooting the explicit sex scenes in "Poor Things" due to the age difference between him and Stone.
"I'm 55 now, so ... like, the sex scenes — am I too old to be doing that kind of stuff?" Ruffalo wondered in an interview with Perfect magazine (via Us Weekly). "I didn't know if I could pull this off." The 35-year-old Stone, on the other hand, had no qualms about filming the love scenes with Ruffalo.
"Bella is completely free and without shame about her body," the actor told BBC Radio 4's Front Row about her "Poor Things" character. "So much of this was about being true to Bella's experience. It [the sex] is obviously a huge part of her experience and her growth, as it is, I think, for most people in life," Stone explained.
Stone thinks that Bella should be curious and uninhibited
It's easy to understand why Emma Stone sees things as she does regarding her role in "Poor Things." After all, Bella is basically an infant in a grown-up body, which is part of what drives the film's narrative and her character arc. As such, Bella is discovering everything anew and has the freedom to do so because of her bodily autonomy.
"But I see it as just one aspect of many — her discovery of food, philosophy, travel, and dance," Stone explained to Front Row. "Sex is another aspect ... She doesn't know to be embarrassed by these things or to cover things up or not dive into the full experience when it comes to anything."
On the flip side, it's also obvious why Mark Ruffalo was somewhat unnerved by these scenes, considering the icky moral implications of his character hooking up with Bella. Still, he was able to eventually see past this and admitted that he thinks the scenes were vital to the appeal of "Poor Things" in the end. "I feel like we're in this prudish time for films," Ruffalo told Perfect magazine. "Sexuality is so deeply connected to the psychology of a character. And it should be explored in that sense, too," he added. "Poor Things" is currently in theaters.