The director of controversial new movie Me Before You has defended the film's storyline amid criticism from disability campaigners.
Director Thea Sharrock said it was very important to her to be respectful to people with disabilities when she set out to make the movie, which stars Sam Claflin as Will, a man with quadriplegia who falls in love with his care assistant Lou, who is played by Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke.
***Contains some spoilers***
Although primarily a love story, Me Before You also deals with the thorny topic of euthanasia and has been criticised for it's portrayal of people with disabilities and the negative way in which they feel Will's condition appears on screen.
However, Sharrock has defended the film and told RTÉ TEN that it was very important to find the right balance when dealing with the "big and important topics".
Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin in Me Before You
"If you're drawn to this kind project, you're in it for the ride and all of the cast were incredibly committed to everything that the story is bringing to the screen and everyone understood that despite the kind of, simple love story umbrella theme of it, there are some very delicate, and big and important topics as well," Sharrock said.
"It meant a lot to all of us to get that right and to get the balance of that right."
Protesters have condemned the film's ending which sees Will travel to Switzerland to end his life as they feel it puts forward the idea that people with disabilities have nothing to live for.
Speaking about the research that she did ahead of filming, Sharrock said, "Both Sam and I spent a lot of time going to specific hospitals and meeting people in wheelchairs so that we could talk to them, and also spending, crucially, a lot of time with the physios who look after them, who try and help with rehabilitation.
"We had an amazing physio, Ruth. She was on set with us at all times so we could make sure that at all times Sam was representing himself and how he should be absolutely correctly, checking his breathing, how he holds his head, how much movement there was."
"We were very respectful and it was really important to me to get that right," she added.
Me Before You is released in cinemas on June 3.
Check out our interviews with Emilia Clarke, director Thea Sharrock and author Jojo Moyes by clicking the video links
