Sia's "Elastic Heart" music video, featuring a half-naked Shia LaBeouf and "Dance Moms" alum Maddie Ziegler, is still creating controversy. But now, we're finding out what it was really like to shoot the controversial scenes.
In the video, the two have a dance battle inside a giant cage. A dirt-covered, boxer-brief wearing LaBeouf puts his contemporary moves on display, as 12-year-old Ziegler dances circles around him.
Sia Defends "Elastic Heart" Music Video -- Says She Expected "Pedophilia" Backlash
In a new interview with ET, Maddie revealed some secrets from the set. "I'm supposed to be portraying a werewolf and pretty much Shia and I have been just living in the cage for a year and I'm the strong one and I'm trying to pretty much kill him," she explained.
While the seasoned dancer is used to playing different characters on the stage, the aggressive moves were hard for her to master.
"Every time in between takes they would say, 'You need to be more aggressive. You need to bite him harder. You need to slap him harder.' And I'm like, 'I can't. I don't want to slap someone. That's scary,'" Maddie said. "Shia kept saying, 'No, you need to hit me as a hard as you can. It's not real until you hit me as hard as you can.'"
The pint-sized reality star followed their instructions, but she wasn't a big fan of the results. "I really did bite Shia, and it was gross because we were dirty and I had to bite his dirty hands," she said. "I kept wiping myself off and I kept handing the wipes to Shia and he was like, 'I don't need the wipes' and I was like, 'Yes, you do.' I brought perfume and everything. I didn't want to smell and he was like, 'Oh, I'm totally fine with it. I don't care.'"
Critics of the music video say it's too sexual, but Sia took to Twitter to defend it, writing, "I anticipated some 'pedophelia!!!' Cries for this video. All I can say is Maddie and Shia are two of the only actors I felt could play these two warring 'sia' self states. I apologize to those who feel triggered by #ElasticHeart My intention was to create some emotional content, not to upset anybody."
What do you think of the video -- would you consider it inappropriate or artistic? Sound off below!
