Jonah Hill is being called out again over a controversial scene from his 2018 directorial debut, Mid90s, in which child actor Sunny Suljic shares an intimate bedroom sequence with adult co-star Alexa Demie. The scene shows Stevie and Estee kissing in bed while in their underwear before Stevie later tells his friends that sexual touching took place between the characters.
Reports from the time described Suljic as 11 during filming, despite his character Stevie being 13 in the movie. Nearly eight years after Mid90s was released, that real-life age gap is driving fresh scrutiny online, with viewers questioning why Hill chose to depict the encounter so physically rather than implying what happened off-screen.
Viewers Question How the Scene Was Filmed
The controversy centres on a party sequence in which Demie's character Estee approaches Stevie, asks about his sexual experience and leads him into a bedroom. Estee removes clothing until she is in her underwear, while Stevie is shown in his boxers, and the two kiss while lying together on a bed. When Stevie rejoins his friends afterwards, he graphically describes the sexual touching that took place and is enthusiastically congratulated by the group.
Alexa Demie in Mid90s (2018) pic.twitter.com/gvV8UrePpB
— best of alexa demie (@alexafiles) August 29, 2019
For some viewers, discovering Suljic's reported real-life age during production has changed how they see the sequence. In a Reddit discussion on r/movies, one user asked: 'How did they film the scene where the actress in her late 20s aggressively makes out with the 11-year-old actor?' The commenter called the possibility of any unsimulated contact 'fucking harrowing'.
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Similar reactions have followed the film for years. One viewer wrote that the scene 'made me pretty uncomfortable', while another argued Hill 'could have done that scene a bit more subtly, like just show them going into the room together or something'. In a separate discussion, a commenter pushed back against arguments that a young performer being comfortable was enough, writing: 'That is not the child giving consent. That is a child being told it is OK to do something from the ppl in his life that he trusts the most.'
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Jonah Hill Said Everyone Had To Feel Comfortable
Hill, the Oscar-nominated Moneyball and The Wolf of Wall Street actor who wrote and directed Mid90s, addressed questions about filming the sequence during the movie's original promotional run. Asked whether there had been any fear surrounding the sex scene, he said it was approached 'very, very, very respectfully'.
'Everyone needs to feel comfortable, first and foremost,' Hill said. He argued that the scene was 'not just to be provocative', explaining that Stevie is frightened by the experience even though he later plays it up to his friends after realising they view it as an achievement.
Suljic also spoke positively about Hill's approach on set. Discussing the adult situations his character faced in the movie, he said: 'Jonah didn't put too much pressure on me.' Suljic added that Hill's approach 'made me feel so comfortable'.
Alexa Demie Had 'A Lot of Anxiety' About Age Gap
Demie, who went on to become best known as Maddy Perez in HBO's Euphoria, has also acknowledged that the age difference initially concerned her. Speaking about filming with Suljic, she said: 'I had a lot of anxiety about that at first because obviously there's somewhat of an age difference between Sunny and I.'
Demie said the environment ultimately made her feel 'very comfortable and safe'. Those accounts provide context for how the actors experienced the production, but they have not stopped viewers from questioning the creative decision itself.
The debate surrounding Mid90s is therefore increasingly focused not only on whether those involved felt comfortable, but on why an intimate scene involving a child performer and an adult actor needed to be depicted that way in the first place. With viewers still discovering the actors' real-life age difference years later, one of Hill's most provocative directorial choices continues to generate a reaction long after the film left cinemas.
