Mark Ruffalo was Afraid of Being “Too Old” for “Bad Things” Emma Stone’s sexual scenes

Mark Ruffalo was Afraid of Being “Too Old” for “Bad Things” Emma Stone’s sexual scenes

Mark Ruffalo had reservations about his role in director Yorgos Lanthimos’ latest film, Poor Things.

“I’m 55 now, so … like, the sex scenes — am I too old to be doing that kind of stuff?” Ruffalo recalled thinking during an interview with Perfect Magazine for their Monday, January 15, cover story. “Does anyone want to see that?” Since then, Ruffalo has turned 56. In the dark comedy, which debuted in theaters in December 2023, he featured opposite Emma Stone. The 35-year-old Stone played Bella Baxter, a young lady who commits suicide and is brought back to life by the eccentric surgeon Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe), who replaces her brain with an infant’s. After swiftly regaining her wits, Bella leaves with lawyer Duncan Wedderburn (Ruffalo) and embarks on a sex-filled quest of self-discovery.

Ruffalo acknowledges the value of showing sex on screen, despite his reservations about taking on the role—telling Perfect Magazine, “I didn’t know if I could pull this off.”
He remarked, “I feel like we’re in this prudish time for movies.” Sexuality and a character’s psychology are inextricably linked. Additionally, that angle needs to be investigated.

The 50-year-old Lanthimos has also defended the film’s open examination of sex.
“It was very important to me not to make a [prudish] film because that would mean betraying the main character in every way,” the director said. Thus, we have to have faith in ourselves,” he declared during the September 2023 Venice International Film Festival premiere of Poor Things. Emma immediately realized that the character [had to] be shameless about her body, her nudity, and her participation in those sequences.

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