Kristen Stewart‘s Love Lies Bleeding co-star Katy O’Brian is breaking down how their characters’ sex scenes came together and how filming them is far from “sexy,” as some may believe.
In an interview with People magazine, the former police officer and competitive bodybuilder explained that a lot of not-so-sexy work went into her intimate scenes with Stewart’s Lou and Dave Franco’s JJ in the A24 film.
“It’s just so not glamorous, and it’s really not that sexy when you’re doing it,” she said. “I mean, first of all, you’ve got a boom-mic guy that’s got his microphone hovering over you while it’s all happening.”
Love Lies Bleeding director Rose Glass, who also sat down with the publication, shared that, before production begins, the actors and intimacy coordinators discuss what they’re comfortable with and exactly what will happen in the scene. There are even nudity riders included in their contracts that detail what is going to be shown, from what angle and how much or how little.
“We stick with the script for those scenes because with intimate scenes there’s massive approvals that go into everything,” O’Brian said. “If anything changes, we have to go back and sign more paperwork. We just had to approve it all ahead of time.”
In addition to typical modesty garments used when filming sex scenes in projects, the actress and director shared that their intimacy coordinators also used other materials to cover castmembers’ private parts, including “a lot of tape.”
“Our intimacy coordinator wanted to make sure I had lots of layers between me and Kristen, so she would tape down one layer of fabric, especially in our first bedroom scene, where you have to see the side of me, so we can’t have underwear on,” the former bodybuilder said. “Then, I think there was another layer, and there was literally a cut-out yoga mat that she put over me, and taped that down.”
O’Brian revealed she was even given a hockey cup to use at times, while Franco used a deflated yoga ball as a buffer between them during their intimate scene. “There was some funny little experimenting with protection,” she added. “It just felt really not sexy and very silly.”
The director pointed out that while filming the scenes, the cast and crew usually think about everything else going on, like the cameras, microphones, angles and choreography, instead of the intimacy simulations happening in front of them.
Glass joked, at times, they’re even worried about the cameras falling on the actors and hoping that doesn’t happen. She referenced one scene in the film that was shot in a small bathroom with a handheld camera in a long take.
“[The] poor [camera operator] was just standing there probably with his arms about to fall off,” she said. “Even though he’s got these beautiful women making out and ‘having sex’ in front of him, he’s like, ‘No, please make them stop. My arms hurt!’”
Love Lies Bleeding is in theaters now.
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