Last Tango in Paris cinematographer denies Brando sexually assaulted 19-year-old Schneider

Oscar-winning cinematographer Vittorio Storaro has weighed in on the recent accusations that director Bernardo Bertolucci and actor Marlon Brando took advantage of actress Maria Schneider during the filming of an infamous rape scene in Last Tango in Paris, which released in 1972.

Storaro has worked with Bertolucci a number of times and says the accusations are false and "something made up by a journalist", reports hollywoodreporter.com.

Last Tango in Paris is a film on love and sex that finds Brando's character a depressed, recently-widowed American who becomes sexually involved with a young Parisian woman, portrayed by Schneider.

Forty-four years after its initial release, the film generated outrage after a 2013 video interview on Dutch television resurfaced, where Bertolucci discusses how some aspects of that controversial scene were sprung on Schneider at the last minute.

Storaro maintains that nothing malicious occurred on set during the shooting of the film, and that the surprise nature of the scene was simply part of Bertolucci's filmmaking process. Moreover, he claims that Schneider was nothing but thrilled to be a part of the film.

Also read: No, Bertolucci. Last Tango in Paris scene is not cinema but documented rape

"I was there. We were doing a movie. You don't do it for real. I was there with two cameras and nothing happened. Nobody was raping anybody. That was something made up by a journalist," he said.

"Don't make a big issue over this story, because it's ridiculous. The problem is someone made up a major headline to create a scandal. If I remember the interview correctly, probably Bernardo felt that maybe he didn't explain it completely to Maria from the beginning and that's why he felt a little guilty and nothing more than that.

"What Bernardo said later was he would like to apologise to Maria, only because he probably didn't explain to her at the beginning what was discussed with Brando. Nothing happened during the shooting," he added.

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IANS