The actress shared that she had a lot of intimate scenes with Timothée Chalamet in the movie “Marty Supreme,” and this was her first experience working with an intimacy coordinator, as she “didn’t know they existed.”
“Now there’s something called an intimacy coordinator, which I didn’t know about,” Paltrow said. “I thought, ‘Girl, I’m from an era where you just get naked, get in bed, and the camera’s rolling.'” It turned out that Paltrow felt more comfortable filming without an intimacy coordinator than with one.
Intimacy coordinators are now an industry standard for Hollywood films, but Paltrow isn’t the only actress who has recently turned down their help. Oscar-winning “Anora” star Mikey Madison, for example, caused a stir when she told Pamela Anderson in their “Variety Actors on Actors” interview that she filmed many of the movie’s intimate scenes without a coordinator. “Mark Eidelstein, who plays Ivan, and I decided it would be better to keep it small. My character is a sex worker, and I’ve seen Sean’s films and know his commitment to authenticity. I was prepared for it. As an actress, I approached it as a job,” she said.
As expected, opinions on Gwyneth Paltrow’s thoughts about intimacy coordinators have also surfaced online. One Twitter user remarked, “For me, it will always be strange to argue against intimacy coordinators, as if you’re the only person on set. You’re not the only one filming sex scenes. They’re there to protect everyone.” Other users shared different opinions. “Before you all turn this into her ‘criticizing intimacy coordinators,’ nothing she says here is actually criticizing the profession. She’s just expressing how uncomfortable it was to suddenly have a choice in a situation where she had never had one before,” wrote one person.
According to SAG-AFTRA, “An intimacy coordinator is an advocate, a liaison between actors and production, and a movement coach and/or choreographer for nudity, simulated sex, and other intimate and hyper-exposed scenes.” Their job is to ensure the safety of everyone on set while preserving the director’s artistic vision.
And yes, they also make sure that one star can’t sue another if something in the scene goes slightly wrong.
