‘Expert of sex scenes’ Michael Douglas questions intimacy coordinators

nypost.com:

Michael Douglas is no stranger to sex scenes — and on the edge of 80, the star is sharing his thoughts on on-screen intimacy.

Per the Telegraph, the actor, 79 admitted that while he’s personally “past the age where I’ve got to worry about that,” he considers the concept of on-set intimacy coordinators “interesting” and perhaps counterproductive to the creative process. “It feels like executives taking control away from filmmakers — but there have been some terrible faux pas and harassment,” Douglas admitted in a new interview with Radio Times magazine.In the span of seven years, between 1987 and 1994, Douglas starred in a string of wildly successful erotic thrillers: “Fatal Attraction,” “Basic Instinct” and “Disclosure.” He refers to that unholy trinity as his “Sex Trilogy.”Perhaps because of this experience, Douglas proclaimed himself the “expert of sex scenes” during a panel discussion at the Cannes Film Festival in 2023.

Then and now, Douglas compares intimate scenes with fight-sequence choreography, “Sex scenes are like fight scenes, it’s all choreographed.

In my experience, you take responsibility as the man to make sure the woman is comfortable, you talk it through.”The self-proclaimed sexpert continued, “You say, ‘OK, I’m gonna touch you here, if that’s all right.’ It’s very slow but looks like it’s happening organically, which is hopefully what good acting looks like.”Douglas admits that actors were more at risk for harassment before the age of on-set intimacy coordinators. “I’m sure there were people that overstepped their boundaries, but before, we seemed to take care of that ourselves,” he said.