Hollywood has become drearily predictable
In a Hollywood full of stunningly beautiful, power-hungry women and gorgeous, ferociously egotistical men, it is hardly a surprise that sex scenes were occasions both for genuine chemistry between actors and abuse by opportunistic men. MeToo sought to crush the latter, and by bringing in a new normal of “intimacy coordinators” to professionally choreograph and monitor sex scenes, it has succeeded, making many actresses and probably some actors feel more comfortable. But mightn’t the arrival of the intimacy coordinator also kill off just a little bit of the actorly chemistry?
Sean Bean, the consummate star, certainly thinks so. In an interview promoting his new BBC drama Marriage, he said the coordinators can “spoil the spontaneity... it would inhibit me more because it’s drawing attention to things. Somebody saying: ‘Do this, put your hands there, while you touch his thing…’ I think the natural way lovers behave would be ruined by someone bringing it right down to a technical exercise,” he said.
This seems reasonable enough, if a bit tone-deaf. Amazingly, however, these comments – banal though they seem – caused a stir. Rachel Ziegler, the star of Steven Spielberg’s recent version of West Side Story, denounced them, saying intimacy coordinators were vital for “an environment of safety for actors”.
Meanwhile, the almost comic didacticism of the age was perfectly manifest in the dreary intoning of the Broadcasting, Entertainment, Communications and Theatre Union. It was, they said, “disappointing to hear these comments from such a screen favourite and established actor without acknowledging his position of privilege and the vulnerabilities and challenges many in the industry, particularly young and less experienced actors, may face as they engage in shooting intimate scenes.”
In other words Bean, one of the most experienced actors out there, ought not to express an opinion on sex scenes without first checking his privilege. To those bent on enforcing woke laws of speech, the fact that he might well be right makes his comments even worse.