Play it safe again, Sam...
Directors told to look to Casablanca for inspiration on post-Covid love scenes
It’s a new problem that has left filmmakers scratching their heads: How do you stage love scenes without breaking social distancing rules?
It seems the answer may lie in the classic movies made under the censorship of the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Directors are now being asked to look at Casablanca, made in 1942, in which the affair between Humphrey Bogart’s Rick and Ingrid Bergman’s Ilsa was constrained by the moral strictures of the Hays Code. In one scene after they kiss, the censor banned showing a bed or even a couch to stop any hint of sex.
Another film suggested as a model is the screwball comedy It Happened One Night (1934), which daringly showed Clark Gable shirtless. But when he and
Claudette Colbert share a motel room, they each have a single bed with a sheet put up between them to act as a curtain.
the guidance from Directors UK, the professional association for screen directors, said to seek inspiration from these classic films which are ‘some of the greatest screen romances ever made’.
the Directing Nudity and simulated sex guidelines also suggest phone sex and casting real life couples. Other ideas include having characters describe what they will do instead of an intimate scene and having characters redressing to imply sex has taken place.
Filmmakers can also use digital performances with green screens and animation to show the encounter.
susanna White from Directors UK said: ‘We’ve always used our craft to convey intimate relationships on screen and now we must do that more creatively than ever.’