On Top of the Globe 🌎| Jenna Ortega

Age-gap controversy with Jenna Ortega in 'Miller's Girl'

Martin Freeman is pushing back on the recent controversy surrounding his film

Freeman, who plays high school teacher Jonathan Miller in the Jade Halley Bartlett-directed dramedy, addressed scrutiny of the 31-year age gap between him and co-star in an interview with published Saturday. The star plays Cairo Sweet, an 18-year-old student Miller has an affair with.

Despite the film's controversial subject matter, Freeman told the British outlet the film is "grown-up and nuanced." He added that artistic works can center difficult topics without glamorizing them, offering the example of 1993 historical drama "Schindler's List," which takes a look at the persecution of Jewish people by the Nazis during World War II.

"It's not saying, 'Isn't this great?' " said Freeman in defense of "Miller's Girl." "Are we going to have a go at Liam Neeson for being in a film about the Holocaust?"

Jenna Ortega was 'comfortable' with intimate scene in 'Miller's Girl'

In a February interview with , intimacy coordinator Kristina Arjona said with an intimate scene shot between her and Freeman's characters in "Miller's Girl."

"There was many, many people throughout this 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," Arjona said at the time, adding, "I'm hyper aware of both of my talent and making sure that we're consistently checking in and that at no point are any of their boundaries being surpassed."

Arjona also said there were discussions on the "level of nudity" with Ortega and Freeman and added that the film had "different variations of how they wanted to shoot these scenes so that audiences could watch them at test screenings to see what was too much."