Inside Selena Gomez's X-rated gamble: Why risqué new role 'excites her' so much... and what husband Benny thinks

Selena Gomez's leap into a four-hour, X-rated film has left fans gasping, yet insiders reveal the writing was clearly on the wall for the former Disney darling. 

'People seem to forget that Selena did the movie Spring Breakers, but that movie was very risky with the choices it made and the nudity and drugs, and the character that Selena played was something completely different from her Barney and Disney roots,' a source close to the star told the Daily Mail.

The 2012 crime drama, which also starred Vanessa Hudgens and Ashley Benson, shattered the squeaky-clean images of its young Disney stars and marked Gomez's first daring step away from her wholesome beginnings.

'As she has gotten older, she has done work to not only test herself but also allow her to grow up in the industry,' the insider added.

Now, Gomez is teaming up with acclaimed director Brady Corbet for his bold new X-rated feature, reportedly titled The Origin of the World, also starring Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender.

According to insiders, the film is expected to echo the 1997 cult classic Boogie Nights.

The source said Corbet is 'so beloved that no matter what he brings to it, people are expecting it to be his Boogie Nights.' 

That reputation could work in Gomez's favor, as the source noted, recalling the Paul Thomas Anderson film as one 'that entertains aspects of X-rated material, but in no way is the film remembered for that – it is remembered for being a defining moment in cinema.'

Indeed, Boogie Nights went on to receive three Oscar nominations with its star-studded cast including Burt Reynolds, Julianne Moore, Mark Wahlberg and Heather Graham – and Gomez, no doubt, has that on her mind.

'Selena is eager to win awards and be looked at as an actress with substance, because lots of her previous roles, she's been very cookie-cutter and almost just a statue,' the insider said.

'Being able to work on these movies that have an edge is something she sees as a means of extending her career.'

Corbet teased the film's X-rated content in a 2025 interview, per Variety. 

'The film spans from the 19th century into the present day – it's just predominantly focused on the '70s,' he said. 'The film is really, really genre-defying.'

He also hinted it could stretch to a runtime of around four hours, revealing at the Storyhouse Screenwriting Festival in Dublin that the script is roughly 200 pages.

Corbet's The Brutalist already raised eyebrows with a 165-page script and a sprawling three-and-a-half-hour runtime.

The production will reportedly be shot on rare eight-perf 65mm cameras, marking Corbet's fourth directorial feature following The Childhood of a Leader, Vox Lux and last year's The Brutalist.

The insider was quick to stress that Gomez isn't simply taking Corbet's film for the paycheck.

'She has all the money in the world, she has all the fans in the world, she now wants to do stuff that excites her,' they said.

'Roles of this nature are going to be her continued calling card for the years to come because she wants to surprise critics and herself.' 

It seems Gomez is playing the long game, making strategic moves in Tinseltown's fickle landscape.

The daring new role follows Gomez's 2023 admission that she now feels liberated from the pressures of growing up in the Disney system, having risen to fame on Wizards of Waverly Place. 

'I definitely feel free of it,' she told Variety at the time. 'Sometimes I get triggered. It's not that I'm ashamed of my past, it's just that I've worked so hard to find my own way. I don't want to be who I was. I want to be who I am.'

Reflecting on the strict expectations placed on child stars, she said: 'Of course. I wasn't a wild child by any means. But I was on Disney, so I had to make sure not to say "What the hell?" in front of anyone.

'It's stuff that I was also putting on myself to be the best role model I could be. Now, I think being the best role model is being honest, even with the ugly and complicated parts of yourself.'

Gomez showed that honesty in her 2022 documentary, Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me, opening up about her mental health struggles and fear of public judgment. 

'Now, I don't feel like I'm lying to people,' she said. 'It's not that I was lying… I was scared of what people would think or that people wouldn't hire me. Now, I don't think that way.'

Plus, there's another voice in the mix these days: her husband, music producer Benny Blanco.

Despite the potentially controversial nature of the new project, he's fully supportive.

'Benny is proud of Selena and her decision to move forward with working on the film,' the source said.

'She's playing a character in an overall piece that should be very artistic. Brady has proven himself to be a filmmaker with a vision and a purpose. Selena isn't going into this lightly, and Benny appreciates her drive and will be her biggest cheerleader throughout.'