365 Days' Michele Morrone Defends the Film Against Critics Who Say It Glorifies Rape & Sex Trafficking
The erotic movie 365 Days (also known as 365 DNI) is one of the most-watched movies of the year on Netflix and it has faced a lot of controversy for the subject matter.
365 DNI follows a mafia boss named Massimo (Michele Morrone) who has a near-death experience and sees the image of a young woman named Laura (Anna Maria Sieklucka) while he’s close to dying. Years later, he runs into that woman by chance, kidnaps her, and gives her 365 days to fall in love with him.
The movie has been criticized for glamorizing rape, kidnapping, and sex trafficking. “Mercy” singer Duffy, who went through a similar real-life experience, is among those who have spoken out about the movie.
In a new interview, Michele defended the movie against those critics.
“I think it’s important to remember that this film is based on a work of fiction. 365 Days was a very successful book in Poland before it was made into a movie. When an audience watches a film, I think they know what they see on screen is not always real, but my job as an actor is to make it feel real, to make you connect to Massimo even though he is a mob boss,” Michele told E! News. “I trust the audience to know that this movie is a fantasy. Sometimes we watch movies and we cheer for the ‘bad guy,’ but we still know he’s a bad guy who is doing bad things, and, of course, this behavior is completely unacceptable in real life.”
Michele does understand where people are coming from when they criticize the movie.
“I understand the controversy, and I am glad we are talking about it,” he said. “I think we have to be careful not to limit art from being created, so I wouldn’t say we shouldn’t allow a fictional movie like this to exist, because then what about films that are about war, crimes, murders, and, yes, celebrated mob movies? This film is not meant to minimize the reality of sexual violence in the world. I do not want people to think this behavior is OK. It is not. I think it’s good that the movie is causing people to talk about these issues, so we can create more awareness about them in our society.”
Michele recently opened up about the movie’s sex scenes and if they’re real or fake.