Spouses Ewan McGregor and Mary Elizabeth Winstead used on-set intimacy coordinator on ‘A Gentleman in Moscow’

Jordan Hoffman
·3 min read
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Intimacy coordinators, basically delicate choreographers for sex scenes, are not new to Hollywood productions. But this may be a first.

For the Paramount+ with Showtime limited series “A Gentleman in Moscow,” in which Ewan McGregor plays a Russian aristocrat banished to a bleak hotel room during the early days of the Soviet Union, the actor told Britain’s Radio Times that the production still used an intimacy coordinator for one romantic sequence, even though his scene partner was Mary Elizabeth Winstead, his wife of two years.

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“We did have an intimacy coordinator!” McGregor said, when it was suggested he probably didn’t need one. “It’s still necessary, because it’s also about the crew, and it’s odd to be naked in front of people, it’s odd to be intimate in front of the camera. 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.”

What he says makes absolute sense—and the fact that there has not yet been a comedy series about the travails of an intimacy coordinator is surprising. But that doesn’t mean we can’t make at least one joke: There’s taking your work home with you, but this is taking home to your work. (I kid, I kid!) 

“A Gentleman in Moscow” is based on a best-selling novel by Amor Towles, and was created by Ben Vanstone, whose previous producer credits include the most recent version of “All Creatures Great and Small.” He’s also written for “The Last Kingdom” and “Merlin.” 

McGregor, who became famous 30 years ago by co-starring in Danny Boyle’s “Shallow Grave,” won an Emmy in 2021 for his work in “Halston.” He’s been nominated four other times—for a guest shot on “ER” in 1997, appearing in “Fargo,” leading Disney +’s “Obi-Wan,” and for the Outstanding Narrator category in something called “Highlands: Scotland’s Wild Heart,” which sounds like a very relaxing program. Winstead won a Daytime Emmy in 2013 for her work on “The Beauty Inside” and previously starred with McGregor on “Fargo” and in 2020’s “Birds of Prey.”

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