Orlando Bloom was required to mine new emotional depths while filming a new movie about surviving child sexual abuse.
Written by Geoff Thompson and directed by brothers Ludwig and Paul Shammasian, the drama tells the story of Malky, a man who was a victim of sexual abuse as a child.
Bloom takes on the central character and has admitted that the experience pushed him as an actor, especially the scenes in which Malky’s abuser reappears in his life unexpectedly.
“I was always so impressed and remarkably amazed at the courage of our writer for his sincere open truth about his own experience of sexual abuse,” he told The Hollywood Reporter, explaining that Thompson had drawn on some of his own experiences in the script. “I hope that this film will give men who have experienced sexual abuse, a safe place or a feeling of being able to relate. I think there’s a real feeling of being alone in that circumstance.”
Bloom added that while Romans tackles an instance of sexual abuse committed by a priest in the Catholic Church, he is amazed how relevant themes are in light of the sexual harassment and abuse scandals currently rocking Hollywood. Following a newspaper expose, stars such as Ashley Judd, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Angelina Jolie have accused Harvey Weinstein of inappropriate behavior, while Rose McGowan is among those who have accused the film producer of rape, but he has denied any claims of non-consensual sex.
And Bloom stated that attempts to tackle sexual abuse within the film industry are “long overdue”.
“I think that this has been going on for a very long time and it’s obviously an incredibly sensitive subject… I think that it’s a shakedown. It’s a time of real revelation and a lot of people are being revealed for who they’ve been and what they are and society is now standing up. It’s time,” he said.
