Kristoffer Borgli dated a teenage girl when he was 27, and reflected on the relationship in an essay where he described how Woody Allen’s “Manhattan” helped ease his conscience.

The Drama director faces controversy after 2012 essay defending his age-gap romance with teen resurfaces

Kristoffer Borgli dated a teenage girl when he was 27, and reflected on the relationship in an essay where he described how Woody Allen's "Manhattan" helped ease his conscience.

By Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel is a news writer at **. He began writing for EW in 2022.

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March 27, 2026 6:09 p.m. ET

Robert Pattinson, Kristoffer Borgli, and Zendaya in Los Angeles at 'The Drama' premiere on March 17. Credit:

Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty

Kristoffer Borgli is facing backlash after a 2012 essay he wrote about a past romantic relationship resurfaced online.

The Norwegian director behind the upcoming Zendaya-Robert Pattinson dark comedy *The Drama* penned an essay in 2012 defending his romance with a teenage girl in the magazine *D2*. The article was translated and republished by *THR* on Thursday.

* *has reached out to representatives for Borgli and a spokesperson for *The Drama*'s distributor A24 for comment.

Kristoffer Borgli in Rome on March 26.

Antonietta Baldassarre Insidefoto/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty

In the essay, Borgli — who was 27 when the essay was published — reflected on dating a "high school student" who was "10 years younger" than him in Norway, where the legal age of consent is 16.

The filmmaker explained that he viewed his "May-December romance" with skepticism, which made him want to "recalibrate [his] moral compass." He noted that he watched films like *Lost in Translation* and *Ghost World*, which depict older men dating teen girls, and that Woody Allen's film *Manhattan* "completely changed" his attitude toward his own situation.

"If a film made in 1979, in which Woody Allen’s 42-year-old character has a public relationship with a 17-year-old girl, is portrayed exclusively in a positive way and causes no controversy in its own time, then why shouldn’t my relationship — with a considerably smaller age difference — in 2012 be 'within bounds'?" he asked. "I chose to listen to Woody over my friends."

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Borgli also suggested that his own "life insight" had been "delayed" by a full decade as a result of growing up in the countryside, arguing that his teen girlfriend and himself were "strangely quite equal" in some ways.

Robert Pattinson and Zendaya in 'The Drama'.

Courtesy of A24

The *Dream Scenario* director said that the then-couple watched Allen movies together, went to bars "where they didn't check ID," and hung out in his girlfriend's parents' apartment, of which he had to "climb out the window" when her family returned from vacation "unexpectedly early."

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Borgli made his feature filmmaking debut with 2017's *DRIB*. His second film, *Sick of Myself*, premiered at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. He collaborated with Nicolas Cage on 2023's *Dream Scenario*, which was distributed by A24 and earned Cage a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. His fourth film, *The Drama*, is set to release in theaters on April 3.

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