Hollywood actor revealed why he regretted filming unsimulated oral sex scene
Topics: Celebrity, TV And Film, Sex and Relationships
Rhiannon Ingle
Featured Image Credit: Pathé
Topics: Celebrity, TV And Film, Sex and Relationships
We've been seeing simulated sex on screens for decades now.
Whether it's the obvious romance or comedy flicks all the way through to psychological thrillers and horror blockbusters, it's clear that pretty much every genre includes adult material nowadays.
But it's far less common to see full-on unsimulated intercourse in non-pornographic movies with famous cult classics, including Nymphomaniac, Dogtooth, and Love - just to list off a handful.
Oh yeah, and we can't forget about the 2001 erotic Intimacy directed by Patrice Chéreau and starring legendary Hollywood actor Mark Rylance, alongside Kerry Fox.
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The raunchy throwback flick follows Jay (Rylance), a failed musician, who has a sexual encounter every week with a woman to get over his frustration. However, things change after he tries to learn about her life.
The film actually featured an unsimulated oral sex scene between Rylance and Fox - something which the former has previously spoken out about regretting.
The 66-year-old A-lister told The Guardian back in 2016 that the role was the 'most difficult job he'd ever had'.
"I was convinced it was a vital story about the difficulties people face finding intimacy in a big city like London," he said.
"Hanif Kureishi's writing couldn't have been more intimate and revealing, but I found the making of the film and the subsequent publicity and personal attacks very, very painful. I wish I hadn't made it."
Rylance also told the Wall Street Journal back in 2015 that he and his co-star were persuaded to do the unsimulated scene by Chéreau, who passed in 2013, adding that he felt 'pressured' to do it and later regretted agreeing to the director’s requests.
"It soured me on my life two months, It’s my mistake, but I felt Patrice put undue pressure on me on set to do that," he said.
"And at that point I didn’t have the confidence as a film actor to say no.
"Now I think a lot of actors that people say are difficult are actually just being sensible."
Fox's own partner also shared his thoughts on the film, as he admitted he was a 'jealous guy'.
"It wasn't going to be a trick," he wrote for The Guardian. "If Kerry accepted the role, the sex in Intimacy would be far more demanding than the normal perfunctory erotic interlude of most mainstream movies. To some indefinable degree, this sex would be real."
Intimacy went on to take home the Best Film award at the Berlin Film Festival.