Martin Freeman & Jenna Ortega’s Miller’s Girl Age Gap Controversy Is Made More Jarring By His Show With 97% On RT

The controversial age gap between Miller’s Girl stars Martin Freeman and Jenna Ortega feels even more uncomfortable thanks to one TV show early on in Freeman’s career. Written and directed by Jade Halley Bartlett, Miller’s Girl follows 18-year-old Cairo Sweet (Jenna Ortega), a high school senior who sets out to have an affair with her married creative writing teacher Jonathan Miller (Martin Freeman) to generate material for her college admissions essay. Things take a troubling turn as Cairo’s writing assignment escalates even further.

Ever since the trailer dropped in December 2023, Jenna Ortega and Martin Freeman’s 31-year age gap in Miller’s Girl has drawn controversy. Ortega would’ve turned 20 while filming for Miller’s Girl in late September 2022, and Freeman would’ve just turned 51 earlier that month. The Miller’s Girl cast members’ age difference isn’t as problematic in real life given their cross-generational characters’ student-teacher dynamic in the film, but it still didn’t sit well with the public. Freeman is clearly much older than Ortega both onscreen and off, which is only compounded by a harsh truth about the British actor’s breakout role.

Martin Freeman’s Breakout TV Role Premiered Before Jenna Ortega Was Even Born (& He Was Much Older Than She Is Now)

Freeman First Starred As Tim Canterbury On The Office (UK) In 2001

Before starring in the BBC’s Sherlock series, the Hobbit trilogy, or any Edgar Wright-Simon Pegg movies, Freeman had his breakout role in the original UK sitcom, The Office. Freeman played Tim Canterbury, the mischievous Wernham Hogg sales rep and the British blueprint for Jim Halpert’s character in The Office (US). The Office (UK) premiered on July 9, 2001, and ran for two six-episode seasons followed by two hour-long Christmas specials before concluding on December 27, 2003. When The Office (UK) series premiered in 2001, Freeman was almost 30 years old, while Ortega wasn’t even born yet.

In fact, Ortega wasn’t born until September 27, 2002, only three days before season 2 of The Office (UK) premiered on September 30. Not only was Ortega not even born yet when Freeman got his big break as an actor in 2001, but at the time, Freeman was almost nine years older than Ortega is now, and ten years older than she was when they filmed Miller’s Girl in September 2022. With all of this in mind, Freeman already pushing 30 in The Office (UK) makes his significant age gap with 2000s baby Ortega in Miller’s Girl even more jarring.

Miller’s Girl’s Age Gap Is Also Weirder When Remembering Martin Freeman & Jenna Ortega’s Past Franchise Roles

Freeman & Ortega Both Played Characters In The MCU

Ortega and Freeman’s onscreen pairing in Miller’s Girl seems even stranger in light of their respective roles in the MCU. In 2013, Ortega made her film debut in Iron Man 3 as the Vice President’s daughter when she was just 10 years old. Three years later, Freeman made his MCU debut as Everett K. Ross in Captain America: Civil War in 2016, when he was 44 years old. While Ortega and Freeman never appeared in any of the same MCU movies, their past roles in the same franchise add another layer of discomfort to their age gap in Miller’s Girl.

Source: Rotten Tomatoes