House of the Dragon star Olivia Cooke has revealed the uncomfortable comments she received from an intimacy coordinator while filming season two.
The actress, 30, from Oldham, plays Alicent Hightower in the hit HBO series, which returns for a second season starting today.
speaking to cosmopolitan ukThe star, who previously appeared in Bates Motel and Slow Horses, spoke about the benefits of having intimacy coordinators on set.
Describing how this “eliminates the awkwardness,” Olivia said, “Then you won’t have to ask for your own boundaries and your own safety.”
As a result, Olivia said preparing for a sex scene is like learning ‘choreography’ and revealed how the intimacy coordinators had to give her some advice on the day of filming.
Pictured: Olivia Cooke (who plays Alicent Hightower) at the House of Dragon season two premiere in Paris earlier this month.
She explained: “One day, (intimacy coordinator Vanessa Coffey) came up to me and we were doing a sex scene and she said, ‘Olivia, can you arch your back and look like you like it a little?’ further.”
“And I said, ‘Thank you very much,’ because I was thinking about everything else under the sun.”
The second season is the first time that Olivia Cooke has had to perform sex scenes for House of the Dragon.
speaking to Elle United Kingdomthe star explained that she thought she might have more intimate scenes in the final season.
She said: “I thought there would be a lot more so I’m relieved that when they used it for me it shows Alicent is pleased which is amazing and doesn’t feel gratuitous.” She feels like we are telling a story.”
Olivia’s comments come after Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke claimed she was “guilt-induced” by her bosses into performing multiple nude scenes so as not to “disappoint” fans.
Appearing on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast in 2019, Emilia, who played Daenerys Targaryen, said she found the amount of nudity in Game of Thrones “overwhelming.”
Sex scene coordinator Vanessa Coffey, who worked with Billie Piper on Sky Atlantic series I Hate Suzie and Daisy Edgar-Jones on HG Wells’ The War of the Worlds, told the Mail in 2021 that there is some poetry in the organization of intimate moments between actors.
The second season is the first time Olivia Cooke (pictured) had to perform sex scenes for House of the Dragon.
Olivia (pictured) said of her sex scenes in House of the Dragon: “I thought there would be a lot more, and so I’m relieved that when it was used for me, it shows Alicent being pleased, which is amazing and not I don’t feel free.
Emilia Clarke claimed that Game Of Thrones bosses “made her feel guilty and forced her to do multiple nude scenes so as not to disappoint fans” (a photo from the first season: Emilia was 23 years old)
She said: ‘Choreographing a sex scene is a lot like choreographing a dance. Actors need to know exactly where their hands are going, where their body parts will be, what will be visible or not visible on camera.
“Many have areas, whether nipples or gluteal clefts (butt cracks, to you and me) that they don’t feel comfortable showing on screen, so we have to respect and accommodate that with careful camera orientation.” .
Intimacy coordinator Lizzy Talbot, who was recently tasked with making the Bridgerton characters comfortable in their close-contact scenes, told Sarah Rainey for The Daily Mail: “We had weeks before filming in which we divided each scene into unique choreographed moments. . People say, “Well, is it like a trick or is it like a dance?”
Jonathan Bailey, who plays Anthony Bridgerton, previously explained the logistics. toward radio times in 2022.
He revealed that he had been ordered to use a half-deflated basketball when acting out lewd scenes with the character Kate Sharma, played by Simone Ashley, in the show’s second season.
The semi-flat sports equipment, he said, allows the actors to move against each other realistically, without intimate body parts touching.
Bailey explained, “It’s amazing how this whole industry has evolved, even in one year.” There are new tricks in the trade (little cushions) and it’s amazing what you can do with a half-inflated ball.’
The actor explained the use of the basketball, saying: “If there are two people doing a sex scene, the rule is that they must have three barriers separating them and there are certain acts in which a half-inflated basketball can allow movement without having to physically connect.’
Meanwhile, Queenie actress Dionne Brown recently opened up about filming the show’s “stressful” sex scenes.
She said What to see: ‘The sex scenes were very stressful. She could have vomited earlier from nerves.
Bridgerton episode five features a six-minute long sex scene between Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) and Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton).
Queenie actress Dionne Brown (pictured) recently spoke out about filming the show’s “stressful” sex scenes.
“Sex is normal and it’s part of life, but I never had to kiss anyone in drama school and then I came to this program where I will have to be very intimate with different men and it’s not all like that.” nice. Some of the sex scenes are quite heavy.’
As such, Dionne praised the show’s intimacy coordinator, Adelaide Waldrop, who previously worked on the Netflix series You and Sex Education.
The star says she had three meetings with Adelaide during her week of rehearsal, as well as meetings with her male colleagues, where they discussed intimacy, underwear and cues to tell if the other was uncomfortable.
Dionne, excited about Adelaida, told the bbc: ‘There were a lot of things that I assumed were normal, but when I told the intimacy coordinator, she said that wasn’t the case.
“If you’re not comfortable with being touched in certain places or with someone else’s tongue in your mouth, then you don’t have to do it.”
In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s HourDionne explained how she and Adelaide “mapped out safe spaces” so that filming intimate scenes almost felt like choreography.
