Paul Rudd defends his role in Clueless film as Benny Blanco calls it 'incest'
Topics: Paul Rudd, Celebrity, Hollywood, Film and TV
Kiesha Dosanjh
Featured Image Credit: (Photo by CBS via Getty Images)
Topics: Paul Rudd, Celebrity, Hollywood, Film and TV
Paul Rudd is coming to Clueless' defence - after his role in the hit movie was 'slammed' by Benny Blanco.
Rudd played the role of Josh Lucas in the 1995 romantic comedy movie. His character, who was a college freshman, had a love story with his former step sister, 16-year-old high school student Cher, played by Alicia Silverstone.
Despite being released three decades ago, the film is still a hit with audiences. So much show, that it was the topic of Benny Blanco, Lil Dicky and Kristin Batalucco's podcast, Friends Keep Secrets, where Rudd starred as a guest.
"As I've grown older, I've realized this isn't remotely incest, and actually, it's really good writing," Lil Dicky, real name, Dave Burd, said.
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However, Blanco, who is married to Selena Gomez, disagreed, as he exclaimed: "Clueless is incest!"
"It's not incest," the Friends star said.
"It impacted my child brain and the way I was like, 'Oh...'" Burd recalled.
"That was her stepbrother... ex stepbrother," Rudd explained.
Speaking about the 'bold choice' made by director Amy Heckerling, Rudd said: "I think the fact that our parents weren't married. My mother in Clueless had been married to Dan Hedaya's character for a while, and then they got divorced.
"There was a moment in time where we were step brother and sister, but we weren't blood related."
Rudd noted that the relationship between the two on the film was a 'huge talking point' with people still calling it 'weird' to this day.
Despite this, the movie ended with the pair realizing their romantic feelings for each other, sealed with a kiss.
The pair attend a wedding together, in which Cher catches the bouquet. But did the two ever go on to marry? Well unfortunately, it doesn't look like we'll find out anytime soon...
The movie was set to have a TV sequel series, which was set to see Alicia Silverstone reprise the role of Cher Horowitz. Unfortunately, last month, it was reported by Variety that the show would not be moving forward at Peacock.
Silverston even publicly spoke about the sequel in an interview on Today, saying she was 'really excited about it'.
think we’re going to try really hard. The goal is to make it honor what everyone loves about Clueless and Cher. So we want to honor that, but also bring something fresh and new to it. I’m confident that we’ll be able to do that, but we’re in baby stages right now," she told the outlet.
Despite the fall through at Peacock, fans can still hold on hope, as Deadline reported: “CBS Studios and Paramount remain high on the project and the IP, and it is expected to create strong interest when it is taken out to market.”