Mark Ruffalo Addresses Poor Things' Sex Scenes: "It's Shaking Off Cultural Oppression"

Poor Things is now playing in select theaters, and it marks the newest film from director Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster, The Favourite). In the film, an unorthodox scientist named Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe) reanimates a woman who becomes Bella Baxter (Emma Stone), who embarks on an adventure with a debauched lawyer named Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo) in order to learn more about the world. The film is a hit with critics and moviegoers alike, earning a 93% critics score and a 94% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. The film doesn't hold back when it comes to sex, which Ruffalo recently spoke about in an interview with BBC alongside his Poor Things co-star, Ramy Youssef (Max McCandless). 

"I think it's gotten very... a little bit prudish, and like a new Victorian age, in a sense," Mark Ruffalo said of Hollywood. "I think that's what's so remarkable about this movie, it's... shaking off this cultural oppression in a lot of ways."

"I think in America, everyone is kind of prudish," Youssef added. "This country has been having a reckoning with sexuality, with women's rights, with autonomy, for a long time, and here comes something that doesn't really talk about it, but in not talking about it, it's really talking about it."

Why Mark Ruffalo Was "Scared" To Join Poor Things:

In another recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Ruffalo was joined by Dafoe and revealed why he was originally "scared" to take the part in Poor Things. 

"I thought the script was amazing, but also, it really scared me. I was like, 'Are you sure this is the part you want me to read for?'" Ruffalo shared. "I read it and I was like, 'I don't know if I could pull this off.' Gladly, I was proven wrong by Willem." 

"I haven't done a lot of comedy," Ruffalo added. "But we had this rehearsal and we got to really play and goof off; I found a lot of stuff in there. He was egging me on all the time."

"He was making me laugh all the time!" Dafoe added

"I was a total sucker for it," Ruffalo continued. "I just only wanted to make him laugh, and so I was pushing it more and more. He would be like, 'Okay, you're really going to do that?' And I did!" 

Poor Things is now playing in select theaters and opens wide on December 22nd.