Katy O’Brian explained that every aspect of filming those scenes is scripted and agreed upon beforehand.
Kristen Stewart‘s co-star Katy O’Brian in Love Lies Bleeding talks about how their characters’ sex scenes came together and how filming them is far from “sexy,” as some may believe.
In 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.”
Director Rose Glass shared that, before production begins, the actors and intimacy coordinators discuss what they’re comfortable with and exactly what will happen in the scene.
Nudity riders in contracts
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 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.”
Modesty garments are used when filming sex scenes in projects. The intimacy coordinators also used other materials to cover cast members’ 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, there was another layer, and there was literally a cut-out yoga mat that she put over me, and taped that down.”
O’Brian was given a hockey cup to use at times, while Franco used deflated yoga ball as a buffer between them during their intimate scene.
“There was some funny little experimenting with protection. It just felt really not sexy and very silly.”
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.
“The poor camera operator was just standing there 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!’”
