Over the last decade, intimacy co-ordinators have become increasingly commonplace on the sets of TV shows and films, helping actors and directors navigate scenes involving sex or nudity that might put them in vulnerable situations. These co-ordinators became more prevalent in the 2010s, in light of the Me Too movement, which saw women calling out the industry-wide harassment, misconduct and abuse that had gone unchecked for decades prior.
While these are crew members who traditionally stay in the background, in Lena Headey’s new series Intimacy, she’s dragging the subject right to the forefront. The eight-part BBC Sounds audio drama, which she also directed and wrote, follows Liza Simmons, a former actor who has taken a step back from the industry after a troubling experience, to retrain as a therapist and, later, an intimacy co-ordinator.
Headey's Own Experience
Speaking to HuffPost UK ahead of the series’ release, Lena admits that her own experience with intimacy co-ordinators had been rather limited before she began work on the show. “I’m so ancient that I never experienced one in my sort of heyday, when people wanted to see me naked. So, now they don’t anymore, I’m safe. Back in the day, there weren’t any. And there was no talk of any – so you just got on with it.”
“Looking back,” she says, “we’re like, ‘what?!’. I mean, I was thrown to the wolves. But it’s given me a resolve to get through most things at work. Now, I just think, ‘oh off’, and I speak my mind.” She laments: “But when you’re young and vulnerable and kind of new, you just say ‘yes’ most of the time.”
The industry's shift towards safety has been met with mixed reactions from actors. Sir Ian McKellen and Sean Bean both questioned whether intimacy co-ordinators “spoiled” spontaneity, while Gwyneth Paltrow told a co-ordinator on the set of Marty Supreme: “Girl, I’m from the era where you get naked, you get in bed, the camera’s on. I think we’re good.” On the other hand, Jane Fonda, Kate Winslet, and Florence Pugh have voiced they wish such roles existed earlier.
A New Audio Drama
For Headey, creating an audio drama was a new challenge. “I’m constantly writing, and it is really brutal out there to get anything made right now. The industry is changing, changing. It’s having this shift. Everything is up in the air. So, to create an IP makes the future of something easier.”
The cast includes her former Game of Thrones co-stars Hannah Waddingham and Maisie Williams. “I loved her from the minute we met,” Headey says of Waddingham. “We bonded, we’re a similar age, we have similar stories. And she is who she is. That’s why everyone’s in love with her.” Williams’ character was written specifically for her, drawing on her quirky and smart persona.
Game of Thrones and the Walk of Shame
Headey’s most famous role remains Cersei Lannister on Game of Thrones, a show infamous for its graphic content. She recalls using a body double for the “walk of shame” scene. “It was three days of me walking naked, shooting this emotional scene, with extras who had seen the show, and loved the show. It was just weird. It was like walking through ravenous fans. Doing that naked would have just made me so aware of people, rather than being in my performance.” She notes that an intimacy co-ordinator might have helped, but her body double Rebecca Van Cleave was “fully on board”.
She also shares a humorous anecdote about getting tattoos to avoid nudity. “I got my whole back tattooed at one point, because I was like, ‘at least then they’re going to have to ask me to go to makeup [before doing a sex scene]’, and I’ll say, ‘that’s going to be eight hours’.” She clarifies she already wanted the tattoos, but adds, “But yes, I was like, ’at least if I do this, and they go, ‘can we see a full naked back?’, I could say, ‘you can, but I don’t think in the 19th century they would have had these’.”
The State of the Industry
Headey is candid about gender inequality. “Straight, male voices in our industry are undoubtedly the loudest, and the most heard. That is just a given. And I don’t think that has changed.” She points to a line in her script: “is it going to be a female director? – ‘no, no, no, the budget’s too high for that’.” Still, she finds humour in the struggle. “The way through is laughter.”
Looking back on Game of Thrones, she remains proud. “I loved playing her. It was such a joy to get to play somebody that deep. They wrote for her wonderfully. Such juicy dialogue and intention throughout the show. I’m just proud to have been a part of that show.” Regarding the controversial finale, she notes, “I think we’ve all spoken about the finale a million times, and when you invest nearly 10 years of your life into something, believing that there is a direction and a path that makes sense emotionally, and then suddenly it’s cut short, and you feel underserved, then yeah, it’s a bummer. But it is what it is.”
Headey’s new career path as a writer and director has been shaped by her decades as an actor. “I watch people front and centre, obviously, when I’m in a scene with them, and I study directors, and I look at the crew and I watch how people light something and I’m endlessly fascinated by the whole process. That excites me and flips my brain. Like, it’s just full and happy. So yeah, I think I’ve been at a good university for 35 years.”
With Intimacy, she hopes audiences “really giggle and to feel sort of seen”. She emphasises that everyone is carrying something unseen. “That sounds cheesy and should be on a t-shirt, but I don’t care, because it’s true.”
Source:MSN News