Jenna Ortega and Martin Freeman’s controversial movie Miller’s Girl has finally got a Netflix release date. After its American release in January 2024, it will land on US Netflix on April 25th.
The movie tracks a complicated and unethical relationship between a creative writing teacher and his 18-year-old student, Cairo Sweet. It’s faced backlash due to the subject matter, but also the fact that the age gap between Ortega and Freeman is three decades wide, putting a question mark to the more intimate scenes.
However, Kristina Arjona, the intimacy coordinator on set, spoke about the supportive and safe environment they created. “There was many, many people throughout the process, engaging with [Jenna] to make sure that it was consistent with what she was comfortable with, and she was very determined and very sure of what she wanted to do,” she told the Daily Mail.
Either way, the controversy seems to have affected the perception of the film. At the time of writing, it only has a 29% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, making Ortega’s lowest-rated film to date.
“My worst list of 2024 starts right here,” one critic wrote. Another was more positive, praising Ortega’s performance, especially as they wrote, “As a showcase for Ortega’s star power, Miller’s Girl does get the job done.”
Netflix viewers can see for themselves as the film is set to land on the US platform at the end of the month. The film never got a proper UK release but is available to rent on Amazon Prime.
Hoping for better reviews for her next project, the first trailer for her upcoming movie Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice was just released. Ortega is joined by Winona Ryder, who revives her original role as Lydia Deetz with the young actor as her daughter. Directed by Tim Burton and featuring Michael Keaton back in the role of Beetlejuice, fans of the original are intrigued to see how this will live up.
