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How the biggest Hollywood stars really feel about filming sex scenes

Their responses are not what you'd expect. - by Maria Pasquini
  • 03 Jan 2019
How the biggest Hollywood stars really feel about filming sex scenes

These A-listers describe what really happens when you pretend to have sex surrounded by bright lights and a crowd of crew members. 

Nicole Kidman: 'Emotionally taxing' 

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For her turn in Big Little Lies, Kidman took on the role of Celeste, a mother of two who often engaged in rough sexual acts to please her abusive husband Perry (Alexander Skarsgård). “I felt very exposed and vulnerable and deeply humiliated at times,” the 50-year-old actress admitted to W of filming the demanding scenes.
One scene in episode 7 particularly stood out for Kidman. “I remember lying on the floor in the bathroom … and I just wouldn’t get up in-between takes,” she recalled.
“I was just lying there, sort of broken and crying, and I remember at one point [director Jean-Marc Vallée] coming over and just sort of placing a towel over me because I was just lying there in half-torn underwear and just basically on the ground with nothing on and I was just, like [gasps].”

Ian Harding: 'Demanding' 

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Pretty Little Liars star Ian Harding delved into details of sex scene prep in his 2017 memoir Odd Birds. Harding admitted that shooting steamy scenes for the series was generally awkward, and that it was the “only” time actors would avoid snacking and instead head to their dressing rooms to do push-ups. 

He also wrote about constantly having to shave to achieve a “smooth, porpoise-y chest” for the show, and how he “flossed at least three times” and “gargled between every take” when it came time to film a makeout scene in the pilot. 

Lucy Hale: 'Relaxed' 

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After her co-star, Ian Harding, revealed that he “flossed at least three times” and “gargled [mouthwash] between every take” while shooting their first kiss in the Pretty Little Liars pilot, Lucy Hale admitted that the pair got very comfortable very quickly.
“Not towards the end, he didn’t!” Hale told PEOPLE of her on-screen beau’s oral hygiene habits. “I think when we started working with each other we were both super nervous and making sure we were in tip-top shape, and then towards the end we didn’t care.”

Kirsten Dunst: 'Long'

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When Kirsten Dunst filmed an intense love scene with Colin Farrell for their film, The Beguiled, she had one question in mind: Are we done yet? “I am on the floor and my clothes are being ripped,” Dunst explained to E! News at CinemaCon.

“I don’t like it, I don’t like it. To be honest, I’m like, ‘Let’s get this over with as fast as possible.’” Luckily, she said, director Sofia Coppola understood her complaints, and moved as quickly as possible.

“At least Sofia’s like, ‘We’re going to get this done quick, we’re just gonna shoot it here, we’ll do three takes, be done.’"

Jamie Dornan: 'Challenging' 

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While filming a steamy scene in Fifty Shades Darker, Jamie Dornan revealed that the reality was … the opposite of sexy.

“The spreader bar, they made that,” Dornan (a.k.a. Christian Grey) told PEOPLE of a memorable device referenced in the books and put into the film. “They were actually really struggling to get their hands on that.”

As the toy was invented by the author and doesn’t exist, the prop department had to get creative and make it themselves.

“It didn’t work a couple of times and held us back a little bit,” Dornan said. “It didn’t quite achieve what we wanted it to achieve, but when it mattered it worked, so it was all good.

Jennifer Lawrence: 'Anxiety Inducing' 

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Jennifer Lawrence has said that she relied on alcohol to get through her first sex scene — which she shared with Chris Pratt — in the sci-fi drama Passengers. During a SiriusXM Town Hall, Pratt told all about filming the nerve-racking scene — and how he tried to make Lawrence as comfortable as possible.
“I don’t want to make generalizations based on gender, but I feel the responsibility falls on me [to make my costar comfortable], and I’ve been in that situation a couple times,” the actor said. “Essentially it’s your job to just minimize the discomfort by, you know, making sure there’s nobody else on set than is required, having a closed set, periodically checking in, and just doing everything you can to assure the person you’re with that they’re okay.”
He continued, “For all the sense of anxiety that comes leading up to a scene like this, you get into it and you realize there’s really nothing sexy about it at all. It’s just really awkward. But you know, it’s part of the gig and you just do what you can to check in with the other person and try to minimize any discomfort that they feel.”

Viola Davis: 'Empowering' 

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The actress has no qualms about filming steamy scenes – as long as they’re realistic as possible.

“I’m not a woman who’s a size 2,” Davis told Tom Hanks on Variety’s Actors on Actors. “If I’m in a sex scene, I want to play the sex scene. I want to say, ‘This is why I’m attracted to you, it’s gotten to this point, this is what my body looks like.’"

It’s what makes her proud to play the role of Annalise Keating on How to Get Away with Murder. “I saw it as an opportunity way bigger than doing good work — I saw it as an opportunity for a dark-skinned actress of 50 to be in a role that’s sexualized, not sexy,” she said. “There’s a difference between sexualized and sexy.”

Kristen Stewart: 'Grotesquely uncomfortable'

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In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar UK, Kristen Stewart referred to filming her infamous Twilight sex scene with ex-boyfriend Robert Pattinson as “agonizing” – in large part because it had to be “the most epic sex scene” of all time. “It had to be transcendent and otherworldly, inhuman, better sex than you can possibly ever imagine,” Stewart said. “And we were like, ‘How do we live up to that?'”

Zac Efron: 'Surreal' 

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“I was nervous because I’ve been in love with her since I can remember,” Zac Efron said of filming his sex scene with Heather Graham for his 2012 film, At Any Price. “It was very surreal.”

This article originally appeared in PEOPLE. 

  • Entertainment
  • Film & Movies
Maria Pasquini
Writer for our sister site, PEOPLE online.

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