As her popularity continues to skyrocket in Hollywood, Jenna Ortega’s controversial new movie has officially gotten its digital release date.
The star of the upcoming Beetlejuice sequel has become one of the brightest young stars in Hollywood today, succeeding in both film and television in recent years.
However, her lead role in the new erotic drama is considered by some to be a change of pace for the 21-year-old starlet.
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Ortega stars alongside Martin Freeman in Miller’s Girl, a film about an 18-year-old student and the relationship between her and her creative writing teacher, which is set to release on Netflix later this month on April 25.
The movie’s streaming release date was announced on various Netflix social media accounts on April 4, eliciting excitement from some fans of Ortega’s previous work available to view on the streaming juggernaut.
To many, the film is best known for its intimate scenes between Ortega and Freeman, which have stirred up division due to the large age gap between both actors. Freeman, a seasoned actor best known for his work in The Hobbit and Sherlock, is over 30 years Ortega’s senior at the age of 52, leading some to question the morality of shooting these scenes that many consider to be disturbing.
However, the intimacy coordinator on the film, Kristina Arjona, says that they were incredibly conscious of what Ortega was and wasn’t comfortable with in regards to the more intense and intimate scenes.
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“'There was many, many people throughout this process, engaging with [Jenna] to make sure that it was consistent with what she was comfortable with,” Arjona told DailyMail, “she was very determined and very sure of what she wanted to do.”
The 2024 drama is far from Ortega’s first outing in an R-rated film, with her roles in Scream and Scream VI, as well as smaller projects like X being some of her more mature roles in recent years.
The film’s release on Netflix comes following a weak outing in theaters, where it debuted on January 26th and only made $321,000 domestically on its opening weekend. While it’s hard to pin that on the risque scenes between Ortega and Freeman, they might have contributed to the movie's general unpopularity amongst viewers.
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Garnering a weak audience score of 42% on Rotten Tomatoes means that the film has an even greater uphill battle in the court of public perception, even upon its arrival on Netflix in late April.
Topics: Sex and Relationships, Film and TV, US News, Netflix