by Sean Bean is not a fan of intimacy coordinators.
The British actor from Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings, 63, feels the industry role adopted in the wake of the #MeToo movement to help keep actors safe during sex scenes is holding him back as a performer.
An intimacy coordinator — defined “an advocate, a liaison between actors and production, and a movement coach and/or choreographer with respect to nudity and simulated sex and other intimate and hyperexposed scenes” by SAG-AFTRA — “destroys spontaneity,” Bean said in a interview with Britain’s Times magazine.
“It would inhibit me more because it draws attention to things,” GOTNed Stark explained. “Someone saying, ‘Do this, put your hand there, touching his thing…’ I think the natural way lovers behave would be destroyed by someone reducing it to a technical exercise.”
He was talking about a famous sex scene in the 1993 BBC mini-series Lady Chatterley with Joely Richardson, Bean said it “was spontaneous. It was a joy. We had good chemistry between us and we knew what we were doing was unusual. Because she was married, I was married. But we followed the story. We tried to portray the truth of what DH Lawrence wrote.”
He also took issue with censorship while discussing a recent nude scene he did for his current TNT show Snow piercings. The scene involved co-star Lena Hall and mangoes – and it ended up being censored.
“I think they cut out a little bit 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 the broadcasters or advertisers say it’s so much. It’s a nice scene, quite surreal, dream-like and abstract. And mango-like.”
When it was brought up that intimacy consultants are advocating for protecting actresses after #MeToo, Bean replied: “I guess it depends on the actress. This one had a musical cabaret background, so she was ready for anything.” (Hall is a Tony Award-winning actress.)
Game of Thrones Star Emilia Clarke has spoken publicly about feeling “pressured” into sex scenes while making the hit HBO series. Gemma Whelan said that the show without an intimacy coordinator made sex scenes a “crazy mess.”
In July, SAG-AFTRA—the world’s largest union representing entertainment and media artists—opened membership to intimacy coordinators. Union president Fran Drescher said the position “significantly improves safety and well-being on set and in productions that require intimate scenes.”
Sharon Stone, Kim Cattrall and Alicia Vikander are among the actresses who have spoken about the need for intimacy coordinators on set, who have not previously felt protected at times. Nick Offerman recently praised intimacy coordinators, saying as a man on set, he feels “much better” having someone in that role to make sure everyone is comfortable.
