“Game of Thrones” star Sean Bean is facing backlash after saying that on-set intimacy coordinators can inhibit actors and “spoil the spontaneity” of sex scenes.
Bean, in an interview with The Times of London published last week, spoke about the job of intimacy coordinators, which have popped up on sets in the past few years to help actors navigate and feel safe while filming vulnerable scenes.
“It would inhibit me more because it’s drawing attention to things,” said Bean, who played Ned Stark in the hit HBO series. “Somebody saying, ‘Do this, put your hand there, while you touch his thing ...’” the actor with a laugh.
“I think the natural way lovers behave would be ruined by someone bringing it right down to a technical exercise,” he added.
When The Times interviewer pointed out that intimacy coordinators are to protect actors after the Me Too movement against workplace sexual misconduct, Bean referenced actor Lena Hall, who filmed a nude scene with him in “Snowpiercer.”
“I suppose it depends on the actress,” Bean said. “This one had a musical cabaret background, so she was up for anything.”
Hall spoke up in a Twitter thread soon after the interview was published, explaining that she needed “to clarify some information in this random article.”
“Just because I am in theater (not cabaret, but I do perform them every once in a while) does not mean that I am up for anything,” she wrote. “Seriously does depend on the other actor, the scene we are about to do, the director, and whatever crew has to be in there to film it.”
“Sean is an awesome actor and made me feel not only comfortable but also like I had a true acting partner in those bizarre scenes,” Hall continued.
She also recognized the importance of intimacy coordinators.
“If I feel comfortable with my scene partner and with others in the room then I won’t need an intimacy coordinator,” Hall explained. “BUT if there is any part of me that is feeling weird, gross, over exposed etc... I will either challenge the necessity of the scene or I’ll want an IC.”
Actors Jameela Jamil of “The Good Place” and “West Side Story” star Rachel Zegler also responded to Bean’s comments.
“It should only be technical. It’s like a stunt,” Jamil tweeted Monday. “Our job as actors is to make it not look technical. Nobody wants an impromptu grope...”
“Intimacy coordinators establish an environment of safety for actors,” Zegler wrote. “I was extremely grateful for the one we had on WSS — they showed grace to a newcomer like myself + educated those around me who’ve had years of experience. Spontaneity in intimate scenes can be unsafe. Wake up.”
Other actors like “Ex Machina” star Alicia Vikander have spoken out in the past about not feeling “protected” during the filming of certain scenes in the days before intimacy coordinators.
“It’s the worst thing ever to do those scenes,” the Oscar winner said in a candid interview with Harper’s Bazaar in April. “I am very comfortable with my body and I’ve done quite a bit of nudity and sex scenes, but it’s never easy.”
Vikander added that intimacy coordinators “should have existed at the beginning of my career.”