The highly anticipated A24 drama Babygirl has been generating buzz for its steamy sex scenes performed by Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson and the taboo romance at the center. While erotic thrillers can be fun for an audience, the craft of directing intimate scenes is unique, and lately has been re-examined. The use of intimacy coordinators in Hollywood has started to become commonplace, and was very present during production on Babygirl. Now, director Halina Reijn is reflecting on what it’s like to use one, and how it’s very similar to using a stunt coordinator on a film.
Reijin sat down with Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar for Variety’s Directors on Directors series, and the filmmakers breached the subject of intimacy coordinators and the popularity of their presence on film sets. The role of an intimacy coordinator is to choreograph intimate scenes and have open conversations about them to make actors feel more comfortable and safe.
While some filmmakers have expressed that this takes freedom away from the director, Reijin explained that she believes they give her even more freedom as an artist. She said:
What I love about intimacy coordinators is that in my mind they teach me tricks just like a stuntman. So, when I am doing a fight scene and a stuntman says ‘Well, if you do this it will look more extreme,’ and with sexuality on screen it’s the same. They can teach you little tricks that actually are way less intimate to do, but they have an effect that is way more extreme. So, I think it’s great. It only gives me more freedom. It gives me more [of] what I want.
This comparison makes a lot of sense.
Stunt coordinators have a similar role on set, where they are tasked with choreographing physical action that could be potentially dangerous for actors. If a stunt coordinator does their job right, they create safety measures for personnel and liaise between stuntmen and actors to make sure the stunt looks great on screen and is done safely.
Intimate scenes also require choreography and they can make actors vulnerable in a different way. These coordinators make sure everyone feels safe and the scene is communicated well on screen, which is essential.
The subject of intimacy coordinators has been frequently debated, especially this awards season. One of the Best Picture front runners, Anora, didn’t use one, as the lead actress Mikey Madison requested not to have one, opting for a skeleton crew and the director instead, according to Variety. Whether or not this was in the best interest of the actors has been controversial, especially as other erotic films this year like Babygirl, Queer, and Love Lies Bleeding all opted to use an intimacy coordinator.
Hearing Reijin’s take on the matter may help directors and actors look at their use from a different lens (no pun intended), and think of it more as something freeing rather than restricting.
Based on the trailers for Babygirl, intimacy coordinators didn’t dull down the sex scenes. Critics are already raving about the seductive and erotic sequences in the film, and the electric chemistry between Dickinson and Kidman. If anything, the use made the movie even more sexy, opening up possibilities to the filmmaker, and making a movie better, the same way a stunt coordinator does for an action movie.
You can see Halina Reijn’s latest film Babygirl when it hits theaters nationwide on December 25th. For more information on other exciting titles heading to cinemas this year, make sure to consult our 2024 movie schedule.