Budding actors get sex scenes coach ... so they can learn how to make luvvie
Drama school hires #MeToo ‘intimacy’ guru
SEX and nudity are common features of our films and TV shows – even if actors are not always comfortable filming such scenes.
Now, to help casts cope, the drama school which trained James McAvoy and David Tennant has become the first in the UK to hire a permanent ‘intimacy coach’.
In response to concerns of the #MeToo era, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland has taken on a specialist to teach actors how to deal with awkward scenes.
Where a TV, film or stage role involves sex or kissing, students will be taught to make sure all participants have given consent and set limits on what physical contact is acceptable and appropriate.
The job of intimacy co-ordinator at the famous Glasgow drama school has been filled by Vanessa Coffey, a former corporate lawyer turned actress and lecturer.
Miss Coffey said: ‘When you think of the damage that can be caused psychologically and physically to an actor in one of these scenes if something does go wrong, there is no reason for these scenes not to operate in the same way you would choreograph a stunt, dance or fight scene.
‘Our aim is to help actors feel comfortable and confident that they have addressed what is required for the scene and at the same time kept true to their boundaries and not overstepped them.’
The appointment follows a string of complaints from film and TV stars claiming they have been forced to get raunchy and peel off in front of the cameras.
Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke revealed how she was told she would ‘disappoint her fans’ if she did not bare all but now puts her foot down and refuses if she feels uneasy.
And English actress Ruth Wilson left American TV series The Affair in 2018 amid concerns about the number of ‘gratuitous’ sex scenes.
Miss Coffey, from Sydney, Australia, said the full-time drama post was long overdue in the industry. She added that actors must separate personal experience and professional expectations when filming.
She said: ‘It is so easy when you are in one of those scenes to think about what you would do, how you would kiss someone or make love to someone and that is not useful when we are looking at a script and a character.
‘Hopefully in the future it will be mandatory to have an intimacy coordinator on a production that involves any kind of intimate conduct.’ As well as sex scenes actors are supported when scripts include sexual assaults.
An intimacy coach was hired for the first time in Bond history last year while filming No Time To Die for scenes between Daniel Craig and love interest Ana de Armas.
‘Keep true to boundaries and not overstep them’