If a friend told you that they’d gone to work and been demanded to simulate having sex in front of everyone at the company, you’d be horrified. It’s not a normal expectation of any job role...apart from acting.
Claire Foy has admitted that she feels ‘exposed’ and ‘exploited’ while filming sex scenes for films and TV, regardless of how much support there is given on set. Yet, this discomfort was something she had no option but to overcome when she took on the real-life character of Margaret Campbell in the upcoming BBC drama A Very British Scandal.
Otherwise known as the Duchess of Argyll, Campbell famously had her private (sex) life analysed in a very public divorce on the grounds of adultery in 1963. In court, Campbell’s husband and his legal team ruthlessly shared explicit photo evidence and made a point of guessing how many men the Duchess had slept with in order to paint her as a nymphomaniac - which means there area a lot of sex scenes in the adaptation.
Of depicting the famous scandal, Foy explained to Women’s Hour: ‘It’s a really hard line because basically you do feel exploited when you are a woman and you are having to perform fake sex on screen. You can’t help but feel exploited.’
In recent years, shows like Normal People, Bridgerton, and I May Destroy You, have popularised the role of intimacy coordinators (ICs) on set. Like with a physical fight in an action film, the IC helps choreographs sex scenes for the actors so that nothing unexpected or intrusive could, or should, happen.
But while Foy described this pre-planning as ‘really useful’ she still maintained that, ultimately, sex scenes make her uncomfortable. ‘It’s grim,’ she explained. ‘It’s the grimmest thing you can do. You feel exposed. Everyone can make you try to not feel that way but it’s unfortunately the reality.’
Additionally, there is no actual legal obligation for directors to use intimacy coordinators. So, the little support and safeguarding there is can be easily side-stepped.
There’s an argument here that if sex scenes are so horrible for actors to film, could we not just take them out? Films have advanced stratospherically with special effects and innovative technology. There must be a way to rethink how we logistically portray sex on screen.
For now, Foy’s concern is with the male gaze. Rather than an objectifying representation of sex that focuses on a performative orgasm, she hoped to depict a different perspective of intimacy while working on the series with writer Sarah Phelps and director Anne Sewitsky.
‘My thing was that I felt very strongly that it [the sex] had to be in it,’ Foy explained. ‘But I wanted it to be female. I did not want it to be that sort of awful climactic sexual experience you often see on the cinema screen.’
Regardless, Foy still felt ‘grim’ and ‘exposed’ after creating a scene that she had agency over. How then must other actors feel when they don’t have any control?
It's also worth noting that, despite public assumption, this isn’t a uniquely female problem. Will Smith also admitted he struggles with the task as he told Graham Norton: ‘Sex scenes are the worst part of acting.
‘When you watch it in a movie, there is music and wine. But on set, there is some big dude holding the microphone, chewing, and watching you.’
Best case scenario, sex scenes are slightly uncomfortable. Worst case scenario, they’re exploitative. Surely showbiz can do better than that.
READ MORE: Why You Might Soon Be Seeing Fewer Nude Scenes In Films