A movie critic has shared a direct message she obtained from actress Amandla Stenberg after writing a destructive evaluation of the slasher film Bodies Bodies Bodies.
Lena Wilson of The New York Times panned the horror launch, which stars 23-year-old Stenberg alongside Maria Bakalova, Rachel Sennott, Lee Pace and Pete Davidson.
The movie follows a gaggle of wealthy twentysomethings who attend a celebration at a distant mansion. Wilson’s evaluation described the film as “bloated with pompous irony” and mentioned it was “perfectly tailored to one of [production company] A24’s key demographics: bougie 25-year-olds who value branding over substance.”
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The film has obtained principally constructive reactions from critics, with an 89 % rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Wilson’s evaluation, revealed on August 4, was destructive—and he or she posted on Twitter on Thursday to share an Instagram DM from Stenberg, seemingly sad about her feedback.
The critic wrote in her article: “The only thing that really sets Bodies Bodies Bodies apart is its place in the A24 hype machine, where it doubles as a 95-minute advertisement for cleavage and Charli XCX’s latest single.”
The message from Stenberg reads: “Maybe if you had gotten ur eyes off my t**s you could’ve watched the movie!”
Wilson shared a screenshot of the message and tweeted: “do you think she instagram DM’d [film critics] Alison Willmore, Justin Chang and Anthony Lane like this or..”
Wilson has advised that Stenberg’s message had homophobic undertones and added in another tweet: “always weird when the homophobia is coming from inside the house but this is something.”
at all times bizarre when the homophobia is coming from inside the home however that is one thing
— Lena Wilson (@lenalwilson) August 18, 2022
Newsweek has reached out to Stenberg’s consultant for remark, however the actress has since mentioned the scenario on her personal social media.
“I’m receiving a lot of commentary on the internet for being a very naughty girl and for sending a DM that I thought was hilarious,” Stenberg mentioned on her Instagram story.
“There’s a film critic and her name is Lena Wilson. She described [Bodies Bodies Bodies] as a 95-minute advertisement for cleavage, which I thought was hilarious. I’m proud that a piece of work I was a part of was described as such in such a renowned publication.”
She continued: “I thought it was hilarious. I thought because Lena is gay, and I am also gay… as gay people, we would both find this comment funny. I was also curious to know what Lena would say to such a statement. Lena decided to publish it and also says that I am homophobic for saying that.
“It’s fairly shocking the quantity of commentary I obtain on my boobs. I wore this tank high on this film as a result of me and the costume designer felt it match the character nicely. I do get bored with individuals speaking about my chest. There appears to be loads of unwarranted dialog about my chest.”
She also addressed the film critic directly, saying: “Lena, I assumed your evaluation was hilarious. I assumed my DM was humorous. I didn’t imply to harass you. I don’t want you any hurt. You are allowed to have your criticism on my work and I’m allowed to have my criticisms of your work. I want you the very best.”
Earlier this week, Stenberg mirrored on her experiences with “cancel culture” in an interview with The Cut, saying she had been “canceled so many times.”
“I like to speak openly about the person that I am, and that invites some canceling from the far right,” she mentioned. “Then there are folks on the far left who think that I have done things that have not been inclusive, or that I have unfairly taken up space within media, or that I’m in cahoots with the entertainment industry when it comes to representation of Blackness.
“I do not know. I’ve been canceled so many instances however from so many various angles, from so many various sides of politics,” she added. “That has actually proven me that that is simply my destiny.”
Update 08/19/22, 10:25 a.m. ET: This article was updated to add Amandla Stenberg’s latest comments.