Actress Mckenna Grace, known for roles in “Ghostbusters,” “Scream 7” and Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” says she has no interest in doing nudity or “hypersexual” scenes in her acting career, at least for now.
In an interview with Cosmopolitan, the 20-year-old, who will appear in the upcoming “Hunger Games” prequel “Sunrise on the Reaping,” was asked if there were roles she would turn down.
“At this point, I definitely don’t do nudity or very hypersexual things,” Grace said. “I respect anybody who can, but it’s terrifying to me. I don’t know if that’ll ever change.”
Grace, who began acting as a child, said she doesn’t want to be pigeonholed as only taking on wholesome projects. She pointed to her own death scene in “Scream” as evidence she isn’t shying away from dark material, while also sharing a longtime ambition.
“It’s not like I only do wholesome things — my character literally gets gutted by Ghostface in ‘Scream’ but my dream is to try and be a Disney princess someday,” Grace said.
After the interview circulated, Grace took to Instagram on Tuesday to clarify that her comments about nudity and her comments about wanting to play a Disney princess were not connected.
“The two quotes being used right now in these titles are unrelated,” Grace wrote. “I’m not uncomfortable doing nude scenes/hypersexual roles simply because ‘I want to be a Disney princess,’ it’s just because of my own personal comfortability I have with that sort of thing right now at this point in my life!”
Entertainment critic Christian Toto, host of “The Hollywood in Toto Podcast,” told Fox News Digital that Grace’s early career on family-friendly shows like “Crash & Bernstein” may be a factor.
“Mckenna got her showbiz start on family-friendly shows like ‘Crash & Bernstein.’ Perhaps some of those lessons have stuck,” Toto said. “Or, she’s seen former child stars go the hyper-sexual route and wants no part of it. Either way, her instincts here are solid, and she may just carve a healthy lane for her Hollywood career moving forward.”
Grace joins a number of actors who have publicly set limits around intimate scenes. Amy Adams has said she turned down a sexually explicit “Saturday Night Live” sketch proposed by Andy Samberg after starring as Giselle in Disney’s “Enchanted,” telling Seth Meyers she was thinking of the young girls who watched the film. “You” star Penn Badgley has discussed asking to reduce intimate scenes, citing his marriage, and actor Neal McDonough has long declined sex scenes and on-screen kissing for religious reasons.
The trend extends beyond individual actors. Utah-based Angel Studios recently announced “The Angel Promise,” a content pledge barring on-screen sex, nudity and gratuitous profanity from its original releases. Co-founder Jeff Harmon told Fox News Digital that Hollywood has drifted from the audience it once served.
“I think Hollywood generally kind of lives in a bubble,” Harmon said. “They’ve kind of drifted more and more away from the values-based audience that they used to serve… Hollywood hasn’t been giving me consistently what I need. Once in a while, you get a good one, but you have to sift through all these things to find your good movies and your good stories.”
