Sex scenes are never as scandalous on set as they appear on the screen, because the work it takes to film them removes the ‘steamy’ aspects.
That bedroom in your favourite erotic thriller is not nearly as dark, isolated, and titillating as the scene suggests. Rather, you have dozens of crew members standing offscreen, watching every second of the action, whispering changes and suggestions as the scene unfolds.
Also, sex scenes are usually choreographed down to the last detail. Even the hand movements are carefully considered and approved beforehand. The last thing you want is for either performer to feel like their co-star crossed the line.
But that discussion only tackled the performance side of things. What about the personal element? Some of these performers are either married or in committed relationships. Sex scenes are not like action scenes.
George Clooney’s partner will watch the actor take a bullet in a film without losing any sleep. But does she maintain that same dispassionate attitude when a beautiful woman is grinding her voluptuous body against her husband on the big screen?
I use Clooney as an example because he mentioned a few months ago that he would no longer kiss his co-stars in films. The notion of kissing 25-year-old women as a 64-year-old actor felt inappropriate, which makes sense when you realize that Hollywood routinely casts Clooney as a romantic lead opposite noticeably younger female leads.
Neal McDonough is a devout Catholic who famously refuses to kiss anyone who is not his wife. Neither will he shoot sex scenes. Actresses such as Salma Hayek have spoken openly about the number of times Hollywood producers pressured them to do nude scenes.
They could not say no because doing so would have cost them those roles at a time when they could not afford to lose paying work. Today, conservative mindsets about sex scenes are less taboo.
Mahershala Ali rejected a sex scene with Taraji P. Henson in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button because he wanted to respect his Muslim faith. His career is thriving today. Penn Badgley stopped doing sex scenes for the TV show You after getting married, and the writers were more than happy to accommodate him.
Hollywood has given actors plenty of reasons to be cautious about onscreen intimacy. The industry is littered with examples of on-screen romances that turned into real-life affairs. Tom Cruise was married to Mimi Rogers when he fell for Nicole Kidman, his romantic co-star, on the set of Days of Thunder.
Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith left their respective marriages for each other after joining the romantic comedy Two Much. Brad Pitt was married to Jennifer Aniston when he and Angelina Jolie began hooking up on the set of Mr and Mrs Smith.
One psychologist observed that actors on a set are pretending to be fictional people. They are saying fictional lines. But they have to immerse themselves in those roles to produce the most realistic performance possible, and sometimes, their minds and bodies fall for that illusion. Sometimes, fake chemistry becomes real chemistry.
Even when that does not happen, you cannot fault a performer’s romantic partner for succumbing to bouts of jealousy. This is why some actors bring their partners to the set while shooting intimate scenes. The goal is to show them how awkward, messy, and bland sex scenes are to shoot.
Many celebrities prefer to date fellow actors because it eliminates this concern. Dave Franco directed his wife, Alison Brie, in Somebody I Used To Know, a film that includes various intimate scenes between Brie and her co-star. Franco and Brie are still happily married, because they both understand the business.
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