Martin Freeman Defends Huge Age Gap With Onscreen Lover Jenna Ortega

Martin Freeman isn't apologizing for the huge age gap between himself and onscreen love interest Jenna Ortega ... even though the internet collectively found it pretty gross.

Martin and Jenna's recent flick, "Miller's Girl," faced backlash after it was revealed their characters would be romantically involved with one another. Fans cited the actors' ages as an issue ... since there is a 31-year difference between the two.

However, the actor told The Times ... the dramedy is about an inappropriate connection between a teacher and a student -- meaning they were supposed to be strikingly different ages ... and emphasizing, that's the whole damn point of the movie.

He adds ... "[It's] grown-up and nuanced. It’s not saying, ‘Isn’t this great?’"

Martin says he feels the criticism was unwarranted ... as plenty of stars have appeared in complicated movies without endorsing the subject matter. He argues here ... "Are we gonna have a go at Liam Neeson for being in a film about the Holocaust?"

Still, one scene from "Miller's Girl" has gone viral online ... in which Jenna's character fantasizes about seducing Martin's character. Safe to say plenty of people got the ick.

As for how Jenna feels about the situation ... she hasn't spoken about it directly just yet.

FWIW, a lot of X users' reactions to the steamy scenes between them at the time were jokey -- but for anyone who was seriously bent out of shape over this, Martin's telling them to chill.