Warning: This piece describes alleged incidents of sexual assault and harassment. When I tell people I’m an actor, I often get asked: what’s it like to do a sex scene? Considering I appear mostly in horror movies — where I more often fight monsters, perform blood sacrifices or meet a gruesome death — this tends to amuse me. Sex scenes are usually the least shocking elements of my scripts.
Until recently, I would even have described them as empowering. I’m happy filming naked and the cameras start to roll only after I’ve discussed each move with the director and my on-screen lover. I am in control.
Or at least I used to be. There’s now a much louder voice on set than mine; one that shows zero respect for how far I want to go. These days, it’s the intimacy co-ordinator (IC) who gets to call the shots during intimate scenes.
And, if my recent experience is anything to go by, their meddling can end up wrecking the shoot. The IC is a fairly new role — the film and TV industry’s answer to some of the shocking abuses uncovered by the #MeToo movement. Equity policy now advises that all actors have a right to request a trained IC oversees proceedings, as per guidelines introduced in 2020.
This is meant to protect vulnerable actors, which — on the face of it — sounds like a good thing. Former Bond girl Gemma Arterton, 38, recently spoke of refusing to cave into pressure from a director who wanted her to perform an explicit sex scene that was introduced at the la.