An actress who engaged in a ‘messy’ real-life sex scene for a film stood by it despite originally wanting her name removed from the credits.
The topic of sex in film is certainly a divisive one, with many arguing at what point do they push the boundaries.
Heck, there’s even seven non-pornographic movies that have actual sex in them.
Make of that what you will.
One movie that features such is 9 Songs (2004) – a flick that followed a series of various intense sexual encounters between a British scientist (Kieran O’Brien) and an American exchange student Lisa (Margo Stilley).
The movie is certainly for adults only, as it featured multiple messy ‘sexual encounters’ between the pair.
And while they are all pretty wild, there is one scene where O’Brien’s character literally ejaculates.
The film’s makers made the decision to have unsimulated sex scenes in the movie, but that certainly ended up being a controversial one.
In fact, 9 Songs infamously held the title of the most sexually explicit mainstream film.
Since then, Stilley has gone on to appear in 2008’s How to Lose Friends & Alienate People alongside Simon Pegg and Megan Fox, however, she has stood by her role as Lisa in 9 Songs.
Telling The Guardian in 2004 that she’d ‘managed to get myself into a mess’, she said: “It isn’t shocking. If you know you are going to watch a film like this, it’s not abrasive. It’s normal sex that everyone has, not crazy stuff.
“I’m surprised [by the controversy], and even more by the fact that I’ve brought most of it on myself.”
And in a 2008 interview with The Irish Examiner, the actor revealed some of the abuse that had come her way following the release of 9 Songs.
Margo Stilley embraced her role as Lisa. (David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images for PAIGE)
According to Stilley, she had people ‘shouting abuse at her’ at press conferences and calling her a ‘wh**e’ and a ‘s*ut’ and asking her ‘how could I do it’.
She said: “I didn’t invent sex! There’s a huge sex industry out there that’s worth billions.
“People ask me if I felt that [director] Michael Winterbottom took advantage of me because I hadn’t acted before, but they forget that I developed the character.”
“It was just hot sex! 9 Songs was a real film about love and sex, and I wanted to do that film and I am proud of it.”
Stilley was initially very reluctant to have her name attached to the racy film, asking to be identified as ‘Lisa’ for the credits.
However, media outlets still scrambled to identify her following the film’s release.
“Newspapers were running competitions with pictures of me, saying, “Who’s this girl?” They were offering rewards to readers if they found out who I was. It was ridiculous,” she told The Telegraph in 2008.
Featured Image Credit: David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images for PAIGE, StudioCanal UK
Topics: Film and TV
