Darren Aronofsky is throwing some subtle shade at his ex, Jennifer Lawrence, calling the Oscar winner a "method actor" and saying she was "emotionally overwhelmed" by her role in the 2017 film "Mother!"
The duo dated for more than a year but split in November 2017, shortly after the film's release.
Darren, who directed the film, spoke with The Economist Radio about Jen's claims that she tore her diaphragm because she was "hyperventilating" too much during intense scenes.
"I wasn't pushing Jennifer on that day," he said. "I was pulling her back, [encouraging her] to remember that we were just making a movie. … I don't work well with method actors. I work best with actors who basically when you say cut, it's over and the emotion is gone, and when I say action, they're able to go deep into it."
He continued, "But part of acting is finding emotions and finding places to go that are extreme because that's the stories we tell. I've never had that situation where an actor was so emotionally… um… overwhelmed by the material that they lost control and hurt themselves."
While promoting the film last year, Jen spoke candidly about being terrified while shooting one particular scene.
"I never lose myself in a movie. This is the only time I've lost myself," she told Deadline. "I couldn't tell my body that none of it was real. I kept on hyperventilating."
Darren, 49, hasn't been overly kind to Jen, 27, since "Mother!" flopped.
"It was so interesting because people talked about how great, talented and gifted she was. I had never seen her do anything like this before and I didn't know if she would or could do it," he previously said. "She taught herself to act and she is a very technical actor. She just absorbed all the material we gave her and unleashed it and it exploded."
Jen is normally quite tight-lipped about her personal life, but she briefly opened up about her split from Darren during an interview with Variety last year. Darren, she said, was obsessed with the film and the negative reviews it received.
"We'd be on the tour together, I'd come back to the hotel and the last thing I want to talk about or think about is the movie, and he comes back and that's all he wants to talk about," she said. "I was doing double duty of trying to be a supportive partner while also being like, can I please, for the love of God, not think about 'Mother!' for one second?"