Scorsese’s ‘Cape Fear’ Includes ‘Sexiest’ Scene

Emerald Fennell is sharing one of her favorite “complicated” sexy onscreen relationships ever, and it’s none other than the dark, obsessive dynamic found in Martin Scorsese‘s “Cape Fear.” During Turner Classic Movie’s “Talking Pictures: A Movie Memories Podcast,” hosted by Ben Mankiewicz, “Saltburn” filmmaker Fennell revealed her twisted love for Robert De Niro and Juliette Lewis’ onscreen relationship in Scorsese’s 1991 film.

While Fennell noted that the 1962 original starring Robert Mitchum is her preferred iteration of the story (both films were adaptations of 1957 book “The Executioners” by John D. Macdonald), she cited the scene in Scorsese’s feature in which De Niro’s character stalks Lewis at her high school as a favorite.

“I was obsessed with the remake, because the scene where Robert De Niro comes to the high school to seduce Juliette Lewis, it’s one of the sexiest things I’ve ever seen, which is very complicated,” Fennell said.

She added, “My answer is always, ‘You are allowed to be turned on.’ Permission is the main thing that I kind of wish I could kind of say before this film is like, permission to laugh, permission to be horny, permission to scream, permission to hate it. I loved Juliette Lewis. I mean, ‘Natural Born Killers,’ another very troublingly sexy film.”

Fennell said of the inspirations behind her films, “I think that there is so much there that is, you know, really kind…