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Another actress has weighed in on intimacy coordinators, except this time, she is … sort of in favor. During Tuesday’s episode of the Louis Theroux Podcast, the show’s host asked Florence Pugh how she felt about the work of intimacy coordinators in Hollywood, and Pugh explained that for her, it’s been a mixed bag. “I did a lot of my sex scenes before that was even a job,” she said. “I am quite confident, quite happy in my skin, and I’ve always been able to make sure that I’m heard.”
“That being said, there are plenty of things I remember that were completely inappropriate — to be asked to do that, to be directed in that way,” she added.
While at first she didn’t necessarily see the need for intimacy coordinators on set, the 29-year-old said she’s coming around. Pugh said at first she had a “shit” experience where the coordinator “made it so weird and so awkward and really wasn’t helpful and kind of was just like wanting to be a part of the set.” But as of late, she’s had “fantastic” experiences.
“It’s a job that’s still figuring itself out, but I will say that I’ve been able to understand better meaning now through working with great ones in sex scenes,” she said. “Finding the story of what it is, what kind of sex it is, how do you touch each other, how long have you been having sex for … All of these things really matter when you are trying to build a relationship that’s been going for ten years. I’d never thought of it like that before, because sex scenes are so awkward for everybody on set.”
Actresses like Emma Stone and Michaela Coel have hailed intimacy coordinators as crucial to ensure safety and consent on set. But, while crotchety old male actors have spent years complaining that they kill the vibe, a handful of women have recently — and, with a little more nuance — also questioned their value. Last year, Mikey Madison generated a wave of discourse when she shared that she’d declined to work with a coordinator on the Oscar-winning Anora, explaining that she and co-star Mark Eydelshteyn “decided it would be best to just keep it small.” Earlier this year, Gwyneth Paltrow told Vanity Fair that working with a coordinator on her sex scenes with Timothée Chalamet in Marty Supreme made her feel “as an artist, very stifled.” And just last week, Jennifer Lawrence told the Las Culturistas hosts that she opted out of an intimacy coordinator for her sex scenes in Die My Love because her co-star Robert Pattinson was “not pervy.”
Pugh, at least, acknowledged that the profession has clear benefits for working actors. In fact, her best experiences with intimacy coordinators, she said, have led to sharper, more nuanced performances. “When I worked with a fantastic coordinator, I was like, ‘Oh, this is what I’ve been missing,’ understanding the dance of intimacy as opposed to just shooting a sex scene,” she said. “There are good ones and bad ones, and it’s through the good ones that I have learned how effective it can really be.”
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