When Hollywood icon Donald Sutherland died at the age of 88 this week, he left behind one of the biggest mysteries in Hollywood folklore: was the sex scene in his hit 1973 horror film Don’t Look real? Now?
The M*A*S*H star, who rose to fame in the late ’60s, faced speculation throughout her career about whether her erotic scene with co-star Julie Christie was impeccably choreographed to appear hyper-realistic, or if the actors had actually had an on-screen date in real life.
In initial promotion for the film, directed by Nicolas Roeg, in the early ’70s, it was billed as “one of the most frank love scenes ever filmed.”
The Venice-set film was shot long before intimacy coordinators were on set, and Sutherland and Christie got used to answering questions about one of the most controversial movie sex scenes of all time.
Sutherland’s memoir, Made Up, But Still True, will be published in November.
Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie in the controversial love scene from Don’t Look Now. Initial promotion for the film, directed by Nicolas Roeg, called it “one of the most frank love scenes ever filmed.”
The co-stars, photographed in 1973, remained silent about the sex scene, until 2018, when Sutherland flatly denied it.
The film adapted Daphne du Maurier’s novel of the same name and saw Sutherland and Christie play John and Laura, who flee to Venice after tragically losing their daughter.
The couple meets a pair of sisters, who claim that the missing girl is trying to make contact with her parents, and the fleeting sighting of the girl dressed in red sends chills through viewers.
In 2018, Sutherland categorically denied that the sex scene was real.
Speaking at the New York premiere of his new film The Leisure Seeker, Sutherland, then 82, said anyone who said otherwise was “an idiot.”
In 2018, Donald Sutherland denied long-standing rumors that the sex scene in Don’t Look Now was real and said that people who claim otherwise are “idiots.”
Sutherland said that despite the erotic nature of the scene, filming was anything but, because he and co-star Julie Christie had to stop every 15 seconds to change positions.
He said performing the act would have been impossible as no shot lasted more than 15 seconds before the action was stopped so he and Christie could reposition themselves.
Sutherland told the New York Daily News that he loved the scene because “it reminded you of making love.”
The scene caused problems for censors both in Britain, where it received an X rating, and in the United States, where it received an R rating.
The creepy thriller, about a couple who lose their young daughter but are then told by a pair of sisters that the girl is trying to make contact with them, became a cult horror film after its release.
Sutherland photographed in a scene from the film, set in Venice.
The BBC completely removed the scene when it first aired on British television.
Rumors that the sex was genuine have persisted for years, helped by people like former Paramount executive Peter Bart, who said as much in his 2011 book.
In 2008, Michael Deeley, who oversaw the film’s UK distribution, told the BBC that Christie’s then-boyfriend Warren Beatty had flown to London and demanded that the sex scene be removed.
Sutherland has been protective of the film in the past, suggesting in 2015, when rumors of a remake surfaced, that it would be a “shame.”
‘Why do they do it?’ he said. “It’s just people wanting profit, trying to profit from (director) Nicolas Roeg, and something that’s very beautiful.
‘It is shameful. They should be ashamed of themselves.’
And Cristi? She has gone on record as saying that she was nothing more than ‘fake sex’.
In a 2015 interview with BBC Radio 4, the now 84-year-old actor said: ‘It was just flesh writhing and rolling and touching, and God, I thought it was absolutely charming. I loved the twisting parts and all those things that you can’t see.
Sutherland is survived by Keith and his twin sister Rachel from his marriage to his ex-wife Shirley Douglas.
The death of the veteran Canadian actor due to a long illness was announced Thursday by his son, film star Kiefer Sutherland.
Sutherland’s career spanned more than 60 years. He saw a resurgence of popularity among younger audiences in recent years thanks to his role as the evil President Snow in The Hunger Games franchise.
The Emmy and Golden Globe winner made a name for himself long before that, appearing on M*A*S*H, Klute and Don’t Look Now.
Before embarking on a long career as a respected character actor, Sutherland epitomized the unpredictable, anti-establishment cinema of the 1970s.
Donald Sutherland died at age 88 this week, his son, actor Kiefer, announced. He is seen in 2019.
The tall, thin actor with a smile that could be sweet or devilish was also known as the hippie tank commander on Kelly’s Heroes and the stoned professor on Animal House.
Over the decades, Sutherland showed his range in simpler but still eccentric roles in Robert Redford’s Ordinary People and Oliver Stone’s JFK.
In 2022 he appeared in what would be his last projects, Lawmen: Bass Reeves and Swimming With Sharks.
Sutherland was set to star in the upcoming apocalyptic film Heart Land, which is in pre-production.
