Gone are the days of “It’s a Wonderful Life” wholesomeness for Christmas Day in the Hollywood community.
This year’s theatrical releases for December 25 include a film being touted for its explicit sexual content and a gothic horror film remake about a vampire who becomes obsessed with a young woman and takes over her sleep, giving her graphic nightmares.
First up, “Babygirl” starring Nicole Kidman has been generating buzz ever since it was first released following the Toronto International Film Festival in September. The movie’s description says, “A high-powered CEO puts her career and family on the line when she begins a torrid affair with her much younger intern.”
Kidman, 57, has talked at length about filming the erotic movie. She said the sheer number of sex scenes became overwhelming. “There was an enormous amount of sharing and trust and then frustration. It’s like, ‘Don’t touch me,’” she said, per The Independent.
“There were times when we were shooting where I was like, ‘I don’t want to orgasm any more. Don’t come near me. I hate doing this. I don’t care if I am never touched again in my life! I’m over it.’ It was so present all the time for me that it was almost like a burnout,” Kidman added.
The actress said “Babygirl” is “obviously about sex, it’s about desire, it’s about your inner thoughts, it’s about secrets, it’s about marriage, it’s about truth, power, consent” while speaking at the 2024 Venice Film Festival.
“This is one woman’s story and this is, I hope, a very liberating story. It’s told by a woman, through her gaze — Halina [Reijn] wrote it and she directed it — and that’s to me what made it so unique because suddenly I was going to be in the hands of a woman with this material. It was very dear to our shared instincts and very freeing.”
Another movie having a Christmas Day release is “Nosferatu,” a horror film starring Johnny Depp’s 25-year-old daughter Lily-Rose Depp.
The movie, written and directed by Robert Eggers, is a remake of the 1922 silent film by the same name and both are based on Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” novel from 1897.
The description calls it, “A gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman and the terrifying vampire infatuated with her, causing untold horror in its wake.”
Depp described how she prepared for the leading female role, telling IndieWire that Eggers encouraged her to read the short story “Péhor” by French author Remy de Gourmont to understand the character.
The actress said de Gourmont’s occult writing was like a “Bible” for her.
“Rob is incredibly well-researched, famously, and so he sent me a lot of references, a lot of movies that had inspired him for the role. He also gave me this text to read, which is called ‘Péhor’, and it’s kind of like a story about a young religious girl who has a sexual awakening love story with a demon,” Depp told the outlet.
“So, of course, that was quite pertinent for me. I used that kind of like a Bible and found myself reading it again and again as we were shooting.”
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There are other, less provocative offerings at the movie theater during the Christmas holiday for families hoping for some leisure time, including Disney’s newly released “Mufasa” and Paramount’s action-adventure comedy “Sonic 3.”
But it’s all too telling that sex and horror movies are being released on one of the most important Christian holidays of the year.
