Emma Thompson shoots down Sean Bean's complaint about intimacy co-ordinators

Emma Thompson had no time for Sean Bean's complaint about intimacy co-ordinators. Photo / Getty Images

Emma Thompson has defended the use of intimacy co-ordinators on movie and TV sets after Sean Bean said they "spoil the spontaneity" of sex scenes.

Thompson, speaking to Fitzy & Wippa on Australian radio, called intimacy co-ordinators, who choreograph simulated sex scenes and intimate interactions for actors, "fantastically important".

"It made me feel comfortable, it made me feel safe, it made me feel as though I was able to do this work.

"And no, you can't just let it flow. There's a camera there and a crew, you're not on your own in a hotel room, bounded by a bunch of blokes mostly. It's not a comfortable situation."

Thompson then went for the jugular with this zinger, "I don't know who the actor was, but maybe he had an intimacy co-ordinator accidentally at home."

Thompson is in Australia promoting her film Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, which is centred on a schoolteacher who hires a sex worker in her quest to discover and fulfil her sexual desires. The film, directed by Australian film-maker Sophie Hyde, features several intimate scenes.

Emma Thompson's new film Good Luck to You, Leo Grande features several intimate scenes. Photo / Supplied

Earlier this week, Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings star Bean, 63, said in a profile interview with The Times UK intimacy co-ordinators "spoil the spontaneity" of sex scenes.

"It would inhibit me more because it's drawing attention to things. Somebody saying, 'Do this, put your hands there, while you touch his thing ... I think the natural way lovers behave would be ruined by someone bringing it right down to a technical exercise," Bean said.

Acting is generally considered a technical exercise in which an actor is directed by somebody who tells them what to say and do.

Intimacy co-ordinators are increasingly common on sets to ensure that actors are comfortable with the physical movements required in a sex scene. The inclusion of intimacy co-ordinators has been supercharged in the wake of the MeToo movement.

Intimacy co-ordinator Ita O'Brien explained to news.com.au in 2020 what her job entailed. She said: "We have an understanding of physicality, body movements and anatomy, and of an actor's process and how they can serve the script.

"We want to know what's not suitable for you as a person, and we can work creatively with an actor with your agreement and consent and help the production. When we work from a clear 'yes' from the actors, it'll be a way better sex scene.

"Then once you get in front of the camera, your actors can be free because they know they can trust where they're going to be touched and where they're touching their fellow actor."

Game of Thrones star Sean Bean said intimacy co-ordinators "spoil the spontaneity" of sex scenes. Photo / HBO

Bean made the comments in the context of Lady Chatterley, a 1993 TV movie with him and Joely Richardson.

He said of his experience: "Lady Chatterley was spontaneous. It was joy. We had a good chemistry between us and we knew what we were doing was unusual because she was married, I was married.

"But we were following the story. We were trying to portray the truth of what DH Lawrence wrote."

Bean also told The Times UK of a scene from his current series Snowpiercer which featured him and another actor – later revealed to be co-star Lena Hall – in the nude and involving a mango.

"I think they cut a bit out actually," he said. "Often the best work you do – where you're trying to push the boundaries and the very nature of it is experimental – gets censored when TV companies or advertisers say it's too much. It's a nice scene, quite surreal, dream-like and abstract. And mango-esque."

When The Times UK reporter pointed out to Bean that intimacy co-ordinators are often there to protect actors, Bean responded by saying it depended on the actor and that Hall "had a musical cabaret background so she was up for anything".

Hall later responded on Twitter by saying that she felt completely comfortable with Bean in that scene but she still saw the value of intimacy co-ordinators.

She wrote: "If I feel comfortable with my scene partner and with others in the room then I won't need an intimacy co-ordinator. 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 (intimacy co-ordinator).

"I do feel intimacy co-ordinators are a welcome addition to the set and think they could also help with the trauma experienced in other scenes. Sometimes you need them and sometimes you don't but every single person and scene and experience is different."

Hall also clarified that her professional background is in theatre and not cabaret, although she occasionally performs cabaret, but that "does not mean that I am up for anything".

Sean Bean and Lena Hall in a scene from Snowpiercer. Photo / WarnerMedia

Other actors have also come out in defence of intimacy co-ordinators, including West Side Story breakout Rachel Zegler.

She wrote on Twitter: "Intimacy co-ordinators establish an environment of safety for actors. I was extremely grateful for the one we had on [West Side Story] – they showed grace to a newcomer like myself + educated those around me who've had years of experience. Spontaneity in intimate scenes can be unsafe. Wake up."

An infamous incident of an unsafe set environment is the experience of actor Maria Schneider, who as a 19-year-old filmed a rape scene in Bernardo Bertolucci's 1972 film Last Tango in Paris.

She said the scene, which involved penetration with a stick of butter, wasn't in the original shooting script and she was only told of it in the moments before filming. Bertolucci has said that he hadn't told her about the scene because he wanted her performance to be real and rageful.

Later recalling the ordeal, Schneider said: "I was so angry. I felt humiliated and to be honest, I felt a little raped, by both Marlon (Brando) and by Bertolucci."