Well, this is disturbing.
A old video has surfaced of “Last Tango in Paris” director Bernardo Bertolucci admitting that he and Marlon Brando never told actress Maria Schneider about the infamous “butter” rape scene before it was filmed:
Bertolucci admits infamous Last Tango rape scene was non-consensual. The actress was not told what was happening. https://t.co/xLRZLAp2mx
— Soraya Chemaly (@schemaly) December 2, 2016
Bertolucci admits infamous Last Tango 'butter' rape scene was non-consensual https://t.co/EGuSUuTSUd <— this is APPALLING.
— Luvvie Ajayi Jones (@iLuvvit) December 2, 2016
More from Elle magazine:
Instead, Bertolucci confessed in the 2013 clip that he and Marlon Brando came up with the idea to shoot the assault scene in which Brando’s character uses a stick of butter to rape Schneider on screen. At the time, Brando was 48. Schneider was just 19.
“The sequence of the butter is an idea that I had with Marlon in the morning before shooting,” Bertulocci said in an event held at La Cinémathèque Française in Paris in 2013. He added that he felt horrible “in a way” for his treatment of Schneider but defended himself, explaining that he “wanted her reaction as a girl, not as an actress.”
“I wanted her to react humiliated,” he said. “I think she hated me and also Marlon because we didn’t tell her.” Even so, Bertolucci clarified that he didn’t “regret” how he decided to direct the scene.
“To obtain something I think you have to be completely free,” he said. “I didn’t want Maria to act her humiliation her rage, I wanted her to Maria to feel…the rage and humiliation. Then she hated me for all of her life.”
Recommended
Both Brando (Supporting Actor) and Bertolucci (Director) were nominated for Oscars for the film.
Here’s some of the reaction from Hollywood.
Director Ava DuVernay:
Inexcusable. As a director, I can barely fathom this. As a woman, I am horrified, disgusted and enraged by it. https://t.co/voGRhafy9K
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) December 4, 2016
Actor Orlando Jones:
https://twitter.com/TheOrlandoJones/status/805556575553339392
Actress Jessica Chastain:
To all the people that love this film- you're watching a 19yr old get raped by a 48yr old man. The director planned her attack. I feel sick. https://t.co/qVDom2gYf6
— Jessica Chastain (@jes_chastain) December 3, 2016
Actor Chris Evans:
Wow. I will never look at this film, Bertolucci or Brando the same way again. This is beyond disgusting. I feel rage https://t.co/uvaLogvv7I
— Chris Evans (@ChrisEvans) December 3, 2016
Speaking out now is great and all, but when will these same folks in Hollywood start naming names on all of the awful people currently abusing women and kids in their industry?
***
Join the conversation as a VIP Member