Dakota Johnson Is “Always Psyched” To Film Sex Scenes


Dakota Johnson discusses her experiences filming sex scenes, emphasizing the importance of intimacy coordinators and the impact of her mother's teachings on her approach to such scenes.
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Dakota Johnson may not know who Alix Earle is, but she sure does know how to shoot a sex scene. During an appearance on Good Hang with Amy Poehler, the actress opened up about how she goes about filming steamy sequences — and, unsurprisingly, they’re not exactly sexy.

When Poehler asked how Johnson prepares to have fake sex at work, the actress joked, “I don’t have to. I’m, like, always psyched up for sex.” The two shared a laugh before Johnson got serious. “I recently did a movie a few months ago, and we had an intimacy coordinator on set and it was the first time I’ve ever worked with one. And she was really great. It was so cool. because I’m so used to just you know, like… It’s a sex scene. It’s not sexy, it doesn’t feel good.” I bet!

How Johnson goes about performing in intimate scenes is different for every role. “First, it depends on who the character is and who the character’s supposed to be to the audience,” she said. “Is she like a super idolized hot girl? Is she a housewife? Is she lonely? Is she scared? Is she conservative? So that’s obviously character work.”

Poehler then compared actors who’ve done sex scenes to astronauts, because “so few people have done it.” Johnson added that a lot of her comfortability in filming these scenes comes from what her mom, actress Melanie Griffith, has taught her. “My mom raised me to be really proud of my body and love my body… She also talked to me about sex and how precious and important it is,” she said. “So I guess in my work, it’s something that I feel brave with and that I feel, when it’s used the right way in a story, it’s important.”

Well, there you go: Another reminder that intimacy coordinators rock. Maybe someone should get the word out to other actors

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