Mark Ruffalo has revealed his "least favourite part" about filming Poor Things was the nude scene.
Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, Poor Things stars Emma Stone as Bella– a young Victorian woman who is brought back to life following her death. After running away from her guardian (Willem Dafoe) Bella embarks on a trip across Europe.
Speaking to Variety in conversation with Robert Downey Jr, Ruffalo, who stars in a supporting role as an unscrupulous libertine named Duncan Wedderburn, opened up about filming the sex scenes in the movie.
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According to Downey Jr, Ruffalo's character is "buck naked and going for it" after just 11 seconds on screen – a move he describes as "the ultimate risk".
When asked how it was to film those scenes, Ruffalo said: "I was like, 'Do I have to?' All I can hear is, 'Nobody wants to see your old ass anymore. Maybe you shouldn’t be doing movies like that anymore.'"
Despite this, the Marvel actor said the nudity helped to tell the story: "I mean, it's my least favourite part of it, but I also saw it as an extension of the physical comedy that we were already finding. So it was just another way to tell the story."
Based on the 1922 novel of the same name by Alasdair Gray, the movie features plenty of sex scenes, which its director previously described as an "intrinsic part of the novel".
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"First of all sex is an intrinsic part of the novel itself [in portraying] her freedom about everything," Lanthimos said. "Secondly, it was very important for me to not make a film that would be prudish, because that would be like completely betraying the main character.
"We had to be confident Emma had to have no shame about her body, nudity [and] engaging in those scenes and she understood that right away."
Poor Things is currently set to open on December 8, 2023 in the US and January 12, 2024 in the UK, following a recent delay in its release due to the SAG-AFTRA strike.
Reporter, Digital Spy
Harriet is a freelance news writer specialising in TV and movies at Digital Spy.
A horror enthusiast, she joined Digital Spy after working on her own horror website, reviewing films and focusing largely on feminism in the genre.
In her spare time, Harriet paints and produces mixed-media art. She graduated from the University of Kingston with a BA in fine art, where she specialised in painting. She also has an MA in journalism from Birkbeck University.
