Nickelodeon Alum Victoria Justice Was 'Uncomfortable' Filming Her First Sex Scene

Victoria Justice wants you to know that there is nothing tantalizing about shooting a sex scene.

The former Nickelodeon star, who began acting as a child and had her first kiss on a Disney show, said on a recent episode of SiriusXM’s “Hits 1 LA With Tony Fly & Symon” that she filmed her first-ever sex scene for the new movie “Depravity” and that the whole experience was “uncomfortable.”

Justice explained that she felt some trepidation because the scene was shot on the first day of filming.

“I’m like: ‘Really, guys? We’re going to schedule this for the first day? Cool. Thanks for that,’” Justice said. “It is uncomfortable. ... I was actually very nervous about it and totally anxious about the entire situation. And I was like: ‘Did I make the wrong choice? I don’t know if I should do this.’”

Although people may think that filming intimate scenes is “really sexy,” she said, “it’s really not. ... It’s uncomfortable, honestly, and there’s a bunch of random dudes in the room breathing and watching you.”

Justice noted that she had “a lot of faith and trust” in the movie’s writer and director, Paul Tamasy, and that her unnamed co-star in the sex scene helped ease her anxiety over shooting it.

“We barely knew each other because it was the first day of filming,” Justice said. “But he was a super nice guy and made me feel very safe, and was very polite and respectful. So it went well, and it’s very tasteful.”

It’s unclear if the “Depravity” set had an intimacy coordinator — an expert who works with directors and actors to make sure sex scenes are filmed in a safe way. But based on the movie’s brief description on IMDb, which simply reads, “A group of roommates accidentally kill an innocent man,” it’s unclear why a sex scene was needed for this particular film.

Nonetheless, many actors seem relieved to have intimacy coordinators on sets amid an industrywide push for more after the #MeToo movement took off in 2017.

Actor Ewan McGregor recently emphasized the benefits of having an intimacy coordinator for the new drama series “A Gentleman in Moscow.”

Although McGregor’s sex scenes were shot with Mary Elizabeth Winstead, his wife and co-star, he said that having an expert on set is “necessary.”

“It’s still necessary, because it’s also about the crew,” McGregor told Radio Times, noting that “it’s odd to be naked in front of people, it’s odd to be intimate in front of the camera.”

He added: “If you were doing a dance scene, you’d have a choreographer. It’s an important part of the work now, because it’s somebody that the director and actors meet in the middle.”