She said: “It was only when the #MeToo movement erupted [in 2017] that we realised, oh, this is everywhere.
“I think most young women I speak to now in this business are so savvy. The attitude today is, ‘I’m not f***ing doing that’.”
Although intimacy co-ordinators are more common now, Headey said it doesn’t mean actors always feel comfortable shooting sensitive moments.
“Even today you can still be on set where no one really cares [about the actors]. You can be doing a nude scene and someone will say, ‘Okay, put this large lumpy mat against your groin’. But I’m in my 50s now and I feel more in control. It’s a different game.”
The Brothers Grimm actor recalled how she often accepted uncomfortable situations in her younger days because she was so grateful to have a job.
“When I started out there was this rite of passage all young female actors had to go through, which usually involved snogging and falling in love, and having sex and showing your boobs. They’d call them the ingenue parts, to make it sound nicer.
“I just got on with it. I didn’t go to drama school so I would just arrive on a set and be, ‘Oh my God, I’ve got a job’.
“And when it came to those moments, I don’t think I even questioned that I should be safe. Instead I’d go home and cry, or think, ‘Oh, that felt weird and too familiar’. Now I look back and feel, ‘Hmm, that was rough’.”