How intimacy coordinators are changing the way intimate encounters are filmed
In "From Here to Eternity," to "Body Heat," to "Sex and the City," sizzling scenes have become an accepted, and expected, part of what we watch.
But in the era of #MeToo and the "Time's Up" movement, there's a new focus on how these scenes are made.
Emily Meade played Lori Madison, a prostitute who becomes a porn star, on HBO's series, "The Deuce." But in 2018, as the show's second season started, she felt increasingly anxious before shooting explicit scenes.
Correspondent Rita Braver said, "Some people might say, 'Hey, this is what they sign up for, come on. They know what they're getting into.'"
"For sure," Frankel said. "The intimacy coordinator is standing watching at the monitor as we're rolling, and she'll say, 'Wow, we can make that hotter.' All those things combined make the intimacy coordinator spectacularly helpful."
There are infamous examples of films that pushed actors too far, like 1972's "Last Tango in Paris," once lauded for its sexual audacity. Actress Maria Schneider later charged that director Bernardo Bertolucci and co-star Marlon Brando made her feel abused and humiliated.
And some of that still exists today.
Braver asked intimacy coordinator Clare Worden, "What are the kinds of things that you've heard from actors over the years that made them uncomfortable?"
"It ranges from the just really awkward and uncomfortable, to finding tongues in your mouth when you don't expect a tongue in your mouth, and it all goes all the way up the scale to, you know, full-on sexual assault," she replied.
But Worden said the climate is changing dramatically. Working for films and TV and on Broadway, she finds that more and more actors expect sets to be safe spaces: "This work, and this discipline, is understood and being requested, and becoming part of the actual standard of the industry," she said.
Just last month, the Screen Actors Guild announced new guidelines calling for intimacy coordinators "to be used for any scenes involving nudity or simulated sex."
And young actors like Martin K. Lewis and Eboni Flowers told Braver, it's not just protection for women.
Intimacy coordinator Clare Worden rehearses with actors Eboni Flowers and Martin K. Lewis. CBS News
Lewis said, "It gives me the freedom to be open about the boundaries I have, or the fears that I have working with my partner."
Flowers added, "I imagine, at least, I mean, in the age of #MeToo, having protection for that navigation of the experience is really important for the guys in these equations, too."
And as for the actor who started it all? Meade said, "Overall conversations have been so much more honest and open, and I think that's helped things get changed."
Braver called Emily Meade the patron saint of the intimacy coordinator movement.
"Thank you! But I like that idea!" she laughed.
For more info:
"The Deuce" (HBO)Intimacy Directors InternationalFollow alicia_rodis on Instagram
Story produced by Gabriel Falcon.
