‘Proud’ actress defends filming real-life sex scenes for controversial film

The lead actress in 9 Songs, a controversial movie with unsimulated sex scenes, spoke out in defense of the film 20 years on from its release.

Margo Stilley's breakout role was in the 2004 film and she's since starred in movies and TV shows such as The Trip, The Royals with Elizabeth Hurley, The Host, and How to Lose Friends & Alienate People.

9 Songs was directed by award-winner Michael Winterbottom and follows the extremely intense relationship between Matt (Kieran O'Brien) and Lisa (Stilley).

The racy movie included real-life sex scenes, oral sex scenes, and an ejaculation scene which has sure raised eyebrows over the years.

While risky movies like these often draw audiences in – hello, Saltburn – this particular film tanked with critics. It currently boasts just 23 percent on Rotten Tomatoes where one reviewer branded it as 'actively annoying'.

Despite this and the unsimulated sex scenes in 9 Songs, Stilley said she didn't realize at the time that it would cause such a stir.

Speaking to LADBible in 2024, she shared: "I just didn't think would be that interested. I was so wrong.

"I didn't understand that I would become the target of Britain's repressed sexuality and all the rage that comes with sexual repression [and] as the woman I was the figurehead for it."

Meanwhile, in 2005, she told The Guardian she was 'proud' of the movie.

Winterbottom, the film's director, also spoke to the news outlet and defended 9 Songs. He said: "Part of the point of making the film was to say, 'What's wrong with showing sex?'"

Margo Stilley's breakout role was in 2004's 9 Songs (David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images)

Echoing similar sentiments, Stilley explained why she took on the role.

She revealed: "I wanted to make a film about something I really believe in, which is to show sex in a very positive light, as a very important piece of everyday life and a very important piece of a relationship, whether it's successful or unsuccessful."

Stilley went on to say at the time: "What I find in films I see is that sex is always a turning point in action, someone's cheating on someone, or someone dies. It's always the kids having sex in horror films that die. And I didn't like that.

"And in the sexually explicit films I've seen like Ai No Corrida [the Japanese classic in which the heroine cuts off her partner's penis], they're crazy, people don't do that, it's not normal!"

Other actors who have had unsimulated sex in films

Robert Pattinson

No, not Twilight. This was for a film that came out in the same year called Little Ashes, where Pattinson performed an unsimulated sex act.

In the flick, Pattinson took on the role of Spanish artist Salvador Dali and in one scene actually pleasured himself on camera.

Aubrey Plaza

"I asked the director 'what should I do' and she said 'masturbate like it says in the script."

The Parks and Recreation actor admitted in an interview with Conan O'Brien that she originally thought her hand would just 'slowly go out of frame' as her character got to know her body, but when Plaza showed up on set for her 2013 movie The To-Do List, it was a 'whole different thing'.

Chloë Sevigny and Vincent Gallo

In 2003, Gallo wrote, directed and starred in his movie The Brown Bunny opposite Sevigny - who also appeared in American Psycho.

In one scene that caused controversy at the time, Sevigny's character performs unsimulated oral sex on Gallo; a moment which the actor later described as 'very complicated'.

"I'll probably have to go to therapy at some point."

However, she added: "But I love Vincent. The film is tragic and beautiful, and I'm proud of it and my performance.

"I'm sad that people think one way of the movie, but what can you do? I've done many explicit sex scenes, but I'm not that interested in doing any more. I'm more self-aware now and wouldn't be able to be as free, so why even do it?"

Kerry Fox and Mark Rylance

Rylance took on the role of a bartender in the 2001 movie, Intimacy.

As the title suggests, his character soon finds himself getting intimate with Fox's character, leading to an unsimulated oral sex scene.

Looking back, the actor has admitted it was the 'most difficult job' he's taken on in his career.

He explained: "I was convinced it was a vital story about the difficulties people face finding intimacy in a big city like London.

"Hanif Kureishi's writing couldn't have been more intimate and revealing, but I found the making of the film and the subsequent publicity and personal attacks very, very painful. I wish I hadn't made it."

Fox, on the other hand, has said doing the film was 'not one of her regrets'.

Lauren Lee Smith

Smith took on some unsimulated sex scenes in the 2005 drama Lie With Me, though the actor has previously admitted that her first reaction upon hearing of the requirement was, "Are you kidding?"

However, after finding 'chemistry' with co-star Eric Balfour, the scenes went ahead as planned.