It would've been problematic post #MeToo: Shannon Elizabeth on her 'American Pie' scene

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Press Trust of India New York
Last Updated : Jul 11 2019 | 2:00 PM IST

It has been 20 years since "American Pie" released and Shannon Elizabeth says the teen sex comedy would have faced outrage had it debuted in the post #MeToo era.

The 1999 film follows a group of high school boys who make a pact to lose their virginities before graduation, with Jim Levenstein (Jason Biggs), attempting to sleep with Elizabeth's character, foreign exchange student from Slovakia, Nadia.

Elizabeth reflected upon her much-talked about bedroom scene with Biggs' character.

The actor recalled filming the scene on the movie, which went on to become her breakthrough in Hollywood.

"It was a closed set and it was just me in this room and the boom guy above me. I was like, 'This is so weird.' It was square room they had built in the middle of a warehouse and we made everyone that didn't need to be there leave set.

"That's the main thing I remember, just me and the boom guy, and trying to make jokes with the directors and make light of it because if I wasn't nervous maybe they wouldn't be so nervous... I just tried to make it no big deal," she told Page Six.

In the film, despite Nadia having no knowledge of the camera in the room, she is sent home and none of the boys are scolded for watching the video which gets accidentally broadcast to the entire school.

"Gosh, do I get sent home?" Elizabeth asked, adding, "If this had come out after the #MeToo movement, there would definitely be a problem. I think that it would have gone down differently.

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First Published: Jul 11 2019 | 2:00 PM IST

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