Aidan Turner has admitted he’s had some rather uncomfortable experiences filming sex scenes, after praising the introduction of intimacy co-ordinators.
The former Poldark star is gearing up for the release of his new Amazon drama Fifteen-Love, in which he plays a tennis coach accused of abuse.
While making the show, he and co-star Ella Lily Hyland worked closely with an intimacy co-ordinator, which he described as “absolutely necessary” for the project.
“It’s just a few years ago when it wouldn’t be commonplace to have an intimacy co-ordinator on set,” he told Metro. “And then a few years before that, I mean, the term wasn’t even known.”
Before intimacy co-ordinators became commonplace on sets, Aidan admitted it could be “awkward in some moments”.
“Not always,” he added. “But directors, I found in my experience, weren’t always great at doing that.
“They had the rough parameters of what they want, but then would slowly Homer Simpson back into the bush, and disappear a little bit, and then you’re left with just the two actors going, ‘Okay, let’s figure this out’.”
Referring specifically to his intimate scenes in Fifteen-Love, Aidan continued: “In our story here, absolutely, we needed somebody.
“To have the scene do what it’s supposed to do, and not just a generic thing, whatever the intimacy of the scene is, to try and achieve that creatively with the intimacy co-ordinator you can really get into the depths of that with that physical movement.”
Describing how Fifteen-Love’s intimacy co-ordinator helped figure out “technical bits” like “where you put your hands”, “what kind of pace are [characters having sex]” and whether or not the scene called for kissing, he admitted: “I don’t know where we would have been [without them].”
In recent history, shows like Sex Education, Bridgerton and I May Destroy You have all employed intimacy co-ordinators to help actors feel more comfortable in certain scenes.
While some actors have questioned their importance, others, including Dame Emma Thompson, Rachel Zegler and Jameela Jamil, have championed them.