After its premiere exactly a week ago, and without us seeing it coming, the erotic thriller ‘Without Shame’, based on the novel ‘Brazen Virtue’ by the prolific North American author Nora Roberts, has crowned the top with the most watched on Netflix taking ahead bombings of the stature of ‘Don’t look up’. But it is not precisely his sudden success that is causing the talk.
The people against Milano
Leaving aside the cinematographic poche of the film in question —it is not that our colleague Mikel has been fascinated by it—, what has awakened the controversy of the day and the anger of the fans of the original material in this leap from paper to screen, has been the participation of Alyssa Milano as the leading actress.
Beyond Milano’s acting abilities or his way of approaching the character of Grace, what has raised blisters has been the political alignment of the interpreter, harshly critical of the Trump administration and one of the main voices that shaped the #MeToo movement. This is why his landing in ‘Without shame’ provoked the anger of the most conservative sector of the fandom, who did not hesitate to publish their discontent on networks and threaten to destroy copies of their Roberts books.
In the middle of this brinjal, the writer has not hesitated to come out in defense of Alyssa Milano, publishing a statement on its website in which it has been tremendously severe, and in which the following can be read -you can take a look at the full text here-:
“I have read many of the comments about the announcement of the adaptation of ‘Brazen Virtue’ for Netflix starring Alyssa Milano and I am simply horrified. The merciless criticism, hatred, anger, rancor and demands leave me dumbfounded.
Generally speaking, I leave politics out of my pages. Its my choice. Now, many readers have brought their thoughts to this page, so I’m going to speak out, for the record: I’m a liberal Democrat. I always have been, always will be. And, as such, I have always believed that everyone has the right to have political beliefs and express their opinion. But I don’t have to tolerate insults and ugliness on my page.
For those who want to claim freedom of expression, take a look. This Facebook page is not the government. Some have commented here using ‘liberal’ as an insult, equating it with communism. Others have openly insulted an actress while stating that she should keep her opinions to herself. No doubt those same people would be quick to vindicate their First Amendment rights.
Some will never read me again because Milano will star in this adaptation. A reader said that he intended to BURN all my books in his collection for this election. Think about it. Burn books. Do you see it? I, of course, do.”
After reaffirming her political position and underlining the absurdity of the situation, Nora Roberts has concluded her writing with great forcefulness:
“Watch the movie when it comes out, or don’t. But insulting an actress or threatening me only illustrates your own limitations.”
I think that, after such a review, and as Schuster said, Needless to say more.