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 films during her decades-long career, but perhaps none have been as divisive as The Heartbreak Kid.
In the 1993 film, Claudia plays a young Greek-Australian teacher named Christina, who begins 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 on the role, Claudia admitted that viewers gave her their unfiltered opinions on the divisive storyline as she herself weighed in on the debate.
Speak with Stellar‘s Something To Talk About podcast, Claudia admitted she never watched it again and said it was far from her “favorite” job of her career.
Claudia expressed her concerns about how the storyline has become dated and insisted that she had no say in directing the film, but was only hired to play the lead 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 good conversation with someone like that recently, the sex didn’t bother me, and the fact that you weren’t Greek didn’t bother me,” she said.
“It was the fact that that boy was practically stalking you. [They] I thought it was a bit dated, which I found very interesting. No one had brought that up.
‘But I think: yes, some people say: us [are] we apologize too much for things done in the past, and I just don’t think we can overcompensate.
“You know, there’s a lot of conversations that need to be had and need to be had.”
Looking back on some of the film’s grittier scenes, Claudia – who was 19 years old during filming – said she wasn’t “equipped” to achieve that level of nudity and intimacy.
“As for the storyline? Now that I’m a producer, I feel like I’ve been hired to play a role. I didn’t write it. I didn’t direct it. I didn’t produce it,” she continued.
‘So I take no responsibility for that storyline. I was a 19 year old girl. And it was a tough job. I felt like I was an adult and I played a very adult role.
‘But I was only 19 and away from home. And the content – there was quite a bit of intimacy and nudity.
Claudia admitted she never saw the film again and said starring as teacher Christina (pictured) in the release was far from her ‘favorite’ job of her career
In the film, Claudia’s character Christina begins a controversial affair with high school student Nick (Alex Dimitriades) after getting her first teaching job at a Melbourne school.
‘I probably wasn’t really equipped to do it. I got through it and did it, but it wasn’t my favorite job.”
Claudia has since built a hugely successful career Down Under and she’s gearing up to celebrate a huge milestone next week.
Her hugely popular TV series Bump’s fifth and final series will air on Stan on Boxing Day, bringing the fan favorite show to an end forever.
The comedy-drama centers on Oly (Nathalie Morris) and her boyfriend Santi (Carlos Sanson Jr), who had a surprise baby while still in school in season one.
In the final season, Oly’s mother Angie (Claudia) continues 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 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 told Ny Breaking Australia exclusively.
“We were like, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if one day we could end the series right now?’ and that’s what we did.’
Elsewhere, Claudia is preparing to celebrate a huge milestone next week as the last ever episodes of her hit series Bump will air on Boxing Day (she is pictured in the show)
“The great thing about series five was that we started it knowing exactly how we were going to end it,” she continued.
“So it was just about how we were going to hold the audience’s hand and lead them to this point.”
Referring to the drama to come, Claudia said they are tackling serious themes including mortality and pregnancy as it proves to be as emotional of a series as ever.
“We’re covering some pretty important storylines in the same kind of Bump tone, so it’s still warm and life-affirming and funny, but hard hitting,” she continued.
“We tackle mortality, the politics of pregnancy and childbirth, feminism, environmentalism, abortion – yes.
“We’re hiding things, but we’re definitely going there, that’s the fun part, we don’t want to be too safe.”