Photo: Dave J Hogan/Getty; Mike Coppola/FilmMagic
Emma Thompsonis making clear her opinion of filming sex scenes after Sean Bean recently made headlines for his criticisms of intimacy coordinators.
The Oscar-winning actress, 63, praised intimacy coordinators as “fantastically important” to productions as she responded Thursday to Bean’scriticismon theFitzy & Wipparadio show on Australia’s NovaFM.
“I don’t know if you were speaking to someone who found it distracting, but [in] another conversation, you might find that people go, ‘It made me comfortable, it made me feel safe, it made me feel as though I was able to do this work,'” Thompson told the radio program.
Bean, 63, argued that having to work with an intimacy coordinator"slows down" the rhythm of sex scenesand that they “spoil the spontaneity” during an interview withThe Sunday Times.
Ansel Elgort and Rachel Zegler as Tony and Maria inWest Side Story.20th Century Studios
Thompson previously worked with an intimacy coordinator on her new filmGood Luck to You, Leo Grande, in which she plays a retired widow who hires a young sex worker (Daryl McCormack) in hopes of achieving her first orgasm.
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TheGame of Thronesalum drew backlash from several Hollywood women, includingJameela Jamil, who rebutted onTwitter: “It should only be technical. It’s like a stunt. Our job as actors is to make it not look technical. Nobody wants an impromptu grope…”
Rachel Zegleralso chimed in, praising Teniece Divya Johnson and Claire Warden, the intimacy coordinators she worked with on last year’sWest Side Storyremake fromSteven Spielberg, in which she starred oppositeAnsel Elgort.
Searchlight Pictures
“Intimacy coordinators establish an environment of safety for actors. I was extremely grateful for the one we had onWSS— they showed grace to a newcomer like myself [plus] educated those around me who’ve had years of experience,” Zeglerwroteon Twitter. “Spontaneity in intimate scenes can be unsafe. Wake up.”
During Bean’s interview, he referenced a sex scene he filmed for TNT’sSnowpiercerwith costarLena Hall, noting that the show “cut a bit out actually” and it was “a nice scene, quite surreal, dream-like and abstract. And mango-esque.”
“I suppose it depends on the actress. This one had a musical cabaret background, so she was up for anything,” Bean added.
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Hall, 42, has since responded to the interview onTwitter, writing that although she has performed cabaret, it “does not mean that I am up for anything.”
“Sean is an awesome actor and made me feel not only comfortable but also like I had a true acting partner in those bizarre scenes,” she wrote. “If I feel comfortable with my scene partner and with others in the room then I won’t need an intimacy coordinator. But if there is any part of me that is feeling weird, gross, over-exposed etc… I will either challenge the necessity of the scene or I’ll want an IC.”
“I do feel that intimacy coordinators are a welcome addition to the set and think they could also help with the trauma experienced in other scenes. Sometimes you need [them], sometimes you don’t, but every single person and scene and experience is different,” Hall concluded, encouraging her followers to chime in on the conversation.
source: people.com
