Claudia Karvan has revealed what she really thinks about the most controversial role of her career.
The Australian actress, 52, has starred in an endless list of movies during her decades-long career but arguably none were as divisive as The Heartbreak Kid.
In the 1993 movie, Claudia plays a young Greek-Australian teacher called Christina who starts a controversial affair with high-school student Nick (Alex Dimitriades) after landing her first teaching job at a Melbourne school straight out of college.
Reflecting back on the role, Claudia admitted viewers have given her their unfiltered opinions on the divisive storyline as she weighed into the debate herself.
Speaking to Stellar’s Something To Talk About podcast, Claudia admitted she has never watched it again and said it was far from being her ‘favourite’ job of her career.
Claudia raised concerns about how the storyline has become dated and insisted she didn’t have any say in the film’s direction, but was just hired to play the leading role.
Claudia Karvan (pictured) has revealed what she really thinks about the most controversial role of her career – starring in 1993’s The Heartbreak Kid
‘I had a great conversation with someone recently where they’re like, the sex didn’t bother me, and the fact that you were not Greek didn’t bother me,’ she said.
‘It was the fact that that boy was pretty much stalking you. [They] thought it’s sort of dated, which I thought was really interesting. No one had brought that up.
‘But I think, yes, some people say, we [are] overapologising for things that are done in the past, and I just think we can’t overcompensate.
‘You know, there’s a lot of conversations that should be had and need to be had.’
Looking back on some of the movie’s raunchier scenes, Claudia – who was 19 years old while filming – said she wasn’t ‘equipped’ to do that level of nudity and intimacy.
‘As for the storyline? Now that I am a producer, I feel like, you know, I was hired to play a role. I didn’t write it. I didn’t direct it. I didn’t produce it,’ she went on.
‘So that storyline, I don’t take responsibility for. I was a 19 year old girl. And it was a tough job. I felt like I was an adult, and I was playing a very adult role.
‘But I was only 19 and away from home. And the content – there was quite a lot of intimacy and nudity.
Claudia admitted she has never watched the movie again and said starring as teacher Christina (pictured) in the release was far from being her ‘favourite’ job of her career
In the movie, Claudia’s character Christina starts a controversial affair with high-school student Nick (Alex Dimitriades) after landing her first teaching job at a Melbourne school
‘I probably wasn’t that equipped to do it. I got through and I did it, but it wasn’t my favourite job.’
Claudia has since carved out a hugely successful career Down Under and she has been gearing up to mark a massive milestone next week.
Her hugely popular TV series Bump’s fifth and final series is set to air on Stan on Boxing Day, bringing the fan favourite show to a close forever.
The comedy-drama centres around Oly (Nathalie Morris) and her boyfriend Santi (Carlos Sanson Jr), who had a surprise baby in season one while still in school.
The final season will see Oly’s mother Angie (Claudia) continue to battle cancer while Oly comes to terms with her second pregnancy.
And co-creator Claudia has hinted at what will happen at the end of the show as she teased that they had already decided on the ending way back in season one.
‘The ending that we have – the image and the moment – was actually on our wish list when we were developing series one,’ she exclusively told Daily Mail Australia.
‘We were like ”wouldn’t it be great if we could one day end the series on this moment?” and that’s what we’ve done.’
Elsewhere, Claudia has been gearing up to mark a massive milestone next week as the final ever episodes of her popular series Bump will air on Boxing Day (she is pictured on the show)
‘The great thing about series five was we went into it knowing exactly how we were going to end it,’ she continued.
‘So it was just about how we were going to hold the hand of the audience and lead them to this point.’
Hinting at the drama to come, Claudia said they tackle serious themes including mortality and pregnancy as it proves to be just as emotional of a series as ever.
‘We tackle pretty significant storylines in the same sort of Bump tone, so it is still warm, life-affirming and funny, but hard-hitting,’ she went on.
‘We tackle mortality, the politics of pregnancy and labour, feminism, environmentalism, abortion – yeah.
‘We sugarcoat stuff, but we definitely go there, which is the fun of it, we don’t want to be too safe.’
