Last Tango in Paris director Bernardo Bertolucci has responded to the recent backlash over his comments about a controversial rape scene from the 1972 movie.

Just a few days ago, a video from 2013 surfaced, which saw the 76-year-old filmmaker state that he and Marlon Brando had decided to adapt the scene to involve Brando’s character anally raping his teenage lover with a stick of butter – and that they made the script alteration without informing actor Maria Schneider (then 19) about it, or asking for her consent.

“The sequence of the butter is an idea that I had with Marlon in the morning before shooting,” he said, adding: “I’d been, in a way, horrible to Maria, because I didn’t tell her what was going on.”

He continued: “I wanted her reaction as a girl, not as an actress. I wanted her to react humiliated. I think she hated me and also Marlon because we didn't tell her.”

Bernardo Bertolucci attempts to defend himself over Last Tango in Paris rape controversy