Director Digital News

Matt Smith recently spoke to The Times of London about his concerns over trigger warnings, saying he worries that “everything gets dimmed and watered down” when the audience is tipped off in advance and told what to feel. The “House of the Dragon” star said that “the fucking point” of his acting choices lately is that “we should be telling morally difficult stories, especially these days.”

"It's okay to feel uncomfortable or provoked when you look at a painting or watch a play, but I worry that everything is forced and watered down. We're telling the audience that they're going to be scared before they've seen anything," he added. "Isn't being shocked, surprised, moved the point? Too much policing of stories and being afraid to get them out because the climate is a certain way is a waste. I'm not sure I support trigger warnings."

Smith recalled that as a youngster, he would go to a “local video store” and see provocative films like “'Slither,' 'Basic Instinct,' 'Disclosure' — all these erotic thrillers. I was way too young to watch them. I saw 'Friday the 13th' when I was nine. That really scarred me. It completely ruined me.”