{"id":62863,"date":"2023-12-18T22:30:19","date_gmt":"2023-12-18T22:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/12\/18\/how-the-poor-things-intimacy-coordinator-made-all-those-sex-scenes-possible\/"},"modified":"2023-12-18T22:30:19","modified_gmt":"2023-12-18T22:30:19","slug":"how-the-poor-things-intimacy-coordinator-made-all-those-sex-scenes-possible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/12\/18\/how-the-poor-things-intimacy-coordinator-made-all-those-sex-scenes-possible\/","title":{"rendered":"How the ‘Poor Things\u2019 Intimacy Coordinator Made All Those Sex Scenes Possible"},"content":{"rendered":"


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When Elle McAlpine<\/strong> first met with director Yorgos Lanthimos,<\/strong> he wasn\u2019t 100% sure he needed an intimacy coordinator on his upcoming film Poor Things.<\/em> He\u2019d never used one on any of his films, which often include bold sex scenes like in The Favourite, The Killing of a Sacred Deer,<\/em> and Dogtooth.<\/em> \u201cI think he had the mindset that it would hinder the process,\u201d McAlpine tells Vanity Fair.<\/em><\/p>\n

It likely wasn\u2019t the first time McAlpine had heard that. The role of intimacy coordinator is relatively new to the industry, but has become more common in a post\u2013#MeToo era when there\u2019s more demand for protection on set. Intimacy coordinators like McAlpine, who is the cofounder of the UK-based company EK Intimacy, function like stunt coordinators for sex scenes. They work with the actors on character, choreography, and movement, and ensure that intimate or sexual scenes are filmed with consent and comfort for those involved.<\/p>\n

McAlpine got the job by sitting down with Lanthimos to explain her role on set. \u201cAt the beginning, this profession felt a little threatening to most filmmakers,\u201d Lanthimos said at the press conference at the Venice Film Festival, \u201cbut I think it\u2019s like everything: If you\u2019re with a good person, it\u2019s great and you realize you actually need them. She made everything much easier for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her initial pitch was that she would work with the actors who would be coming in and out of Emma Stone<\/strong>\u2019s orbit in Poor Things.<\/em> Stone plays Bella Baxter<\/a>, a young woman who leaves her sheltered life in London to travel around Europe with a new boyfriend, Duncan (Mark Ruffalo<\/strong>). Along with learning about the world, she also embarks on a sexual awakening, first with Duncan and then later as an employee of a brothel in Paris.<\/p>\n

At first, Stone, who worked with Lanthimos on The Favourite<\/em> and has a trusting relationship with the filmmaker, wasn\u2019t sure she would need help from McAlpine, so McAlpine offered to work with the other actors in those scenes, many of whom would only be coming in for a day or so of work as part of a montage of sex scenes. \u201cMy job would be in helping them in creating a space where the power dynamic is neutralized because I\u2019m there\u2014that they can talk with me as much as they want before getting to set and that I can hopefully work with them so that when they come to set, they\u2019re not nervous or they feel that they\u2019re able to do their job to the best of their abilities,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

In the end, McAlpine would end up working closely with Stone. After performing in numerous sex scenes for the film, she told Vanity Fair<\/em> that she felt \u201ccompletely in a safe space and I had so much agency within it.\u201d McAlpine\u2019s secret recipe for getting to that point with filmmakers and talent that are apprehensive at first? \u201cThis role demands that,\u201d she says, before correcting herself. \u201cWell, we don\u2019t demand because that\u2019s not the energy that we bring\u2014but effectively we\u2019re asking people to trust us pretty quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

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