Emma Stone didn’t ‘shy away’ from sex scenes in new movie because she needed to be ‘free’

The director of Emma Stone’s latest movie said the star didn’t ‘shy away’ from sex scenes.

Stone plays Bella Baxter in the upcoming flick Poor Things based upon the 1992 novel of the same name by Alasdair Gray.

You can see a trailer for the film here:

The movie centres on Bella, who is brought back to life by a scientist after taking her own life - with her life restored, Bella runs off with ‘debauched lawyer to embark on an odyssey of self-discovery and sexual liberation’.

As the description above may have hinted, the movie has been rated R and has ‘strong and pervasive sexual content, graphic nudity, disturbing material, gore and language’.

Speaking at the New York Film Festival on Friday, director Yorgos Lanthimos said both he and Stone knew that due to the nature of the source material, the sex scenes played an important part in the movie.

He explained: "It was a very important part of her journey. We felt that we shouldn't shy away from it.

"It would feel very disingenuous to tell this story about this character who is so free and so open, and then be prude about the sexual aspect of it."

Warner Bros

Lanthimos continued: "It was clear from the beginning, but also from the novel, from the script, from my discussions with Emma, as well, and how we came up with those scenes.

"She had to be free; there should be no judgment."

Sharing more about the character of Bella, he added: "The same way she learns about language and human suffering and love and science and politics, the same way she should be equally free about sex and anything else."

The director also heaped praise on Stone’s performance.

"She's just incredible," Lanthimos said.

"The vulnerability of it, the sensitivity and the humor of it — it's just so difficult to do. I just don't know how she did it."

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Due to the ongoing actors strike, Stone was not at the press conference, but in an interview with Vogue back in May - before the industrial action kicked off - the Oscar-winner said her character’s world was ‘fascinating’.

She explained: “It’s such a fairy tale, and a metaphor — clearly, this can’t actually happen — but the idea that you could start anew as a woman, as this body that’s already formed, and see everything for the first time and try to understand the nature of sexuality, or power, or money or choice, the ability to make choices and live by your own rules and not society’s — I thought that was a really fascinating world to go into.”