Gwyneth Paltrow has said she felt uncomfortable about the presence of an intimacy coordinator on the set of her new film, in which she shares a number of sex scenes with co-star Timothée Chalamet.
Speaking to Vanity Fair, Paltrow, 52, said that working on Marty Supreme, which is her first leading role in a film since 2010, was her first experience of the relatively new profession, introduced after the #MeToo movement to try to help protect actors on set after multiple instances of abuse were exposed.
“There’s now something called an intimacy coordinator, which I did not know existed,” Paltrow said, adding that when asked if she would be comfortable with a particular move during the filming of a sex scene, “I was like: ‘Girl, I’m from the era where you get naked, you get in bed, the camera’s on.’”
She said her co-star, who was 28 at the time of filming, agreed. “We said: ‘I think we’re good. You can step a little bit back.’ I don’t know how it is for kids who are starting out, but … if someone is like, ‘OK, and then he’s going to put his hand here,’ I would feel, as an artist, very stifled by that.”
Chalamet plays a ping pong protege in the movie, loosely inspired by real-life sportsman Marty Reisman, the US men’s singles champion in 1958 and 1960. Paltrow plays the wife of a rival table tennis contender with whom Chalamet’s character starts an affair.
“I mean, we have a lot of sex in this movie,” said Paltrow. “There’s a lot – a lot.” Of the considerable age gap between the leads, Paltrow said she sought to make light of it early on during production. “I was like: ‘OK, great. I’m 109 years old. You’re 14.’ ” She also praised Chalamet’s seriousness and commitment to his craft, after his defeat at the Oscars to Adrien Brody earlier this month.
Paltrow won an Oscar 26 years ago for Shakespeare in Love; in 2017 she was one of the first high-profile stars to accuse its producer, Harvey Weinstein, of sexual harassment.
The use of intimacy coordinators is now standard practice across the industry, with many stars, including Emma Thompson, Rachel Zegler and Sydney Sweeney vocal in their support of their introduction.
However, others have criticised their presence, with Sean Bean saying they “spoil the spontaneity” of scenes, while Jennifer Aniston said she dismissed the intimacy coordinator hired for The Morning Show to oversee a scene between her and Jon Hamm.
“I’m like: ‘Please, this is awkward enough!’ We’re seasoned – we can figure this one out.”
While Paltrow and Aniston are veteran stars likely to be the most powerful people on their respective sets, some younger actors have also expressed scepticism about whether intimacy coordinators need to be mandatory.
Anora star Mikey Madison, whose best actress win was among one of the five Oscars the film earned earlier this month said she declined director Sean Baker’s offer of an intimacy coordinator for her sex scenes.
“Mark Eydelshteyn, who plays Ivan, and I decided it would be best to just keep it small. My character is a sex worker, and I had seen Sean’s films and know his dedication to authenticity. I was ready for it. As an actress, I approached it as a job.”
