Last week, actor Sean Bean very casually admitted that he did not like using intimacy coordinators during intimate scenes with his co-stars, and it may not have gone over well with other actors who are very thankful for intimacy coordinators. One of the stars that is defending the use of intimacy coordinators is Dame Emma Thompson, who thinks that they are great! And also doesn’t seem to know who Sean Bean is.
While promoting her new film Good Luck To You Leo Grande, in which she embarks on a sexual relationship with a much younger man, the interviewers of the Australian radio show “Fitzy& Wippa” (the most Australian-sounding name ever) mentioned Bean’s comments. “Sean Bean, who was Ned Stark in Game of Thrones said he didn’t really appreciate the work of the intimacy coordinator because he said that it spoilt the spontaneity. So is that how you found it? Did you guys have an intimacy coordinator there on set advising you what to do in these scenes?” Of course, Thompson had a very eloquent response.
“Intimacy coordinators are fantastically important and I don’t know you were speaking to somebody who found it distracting but another conversation you might find people go, ‘It made me comfortable, it made me feel safe, it made me feel as though I was able to do this work,’” Thompson told the host, via Variety.
Thompson added, “So intimacy coordinators are the most fantastic introduction in our work. And no, you can’t just ‘let it flow.’ There’s a camera there and a crew. You’re not on your own in a hotel room, you’re surrounded by a bunch of blokes, mostly. So it’s not a comfortable situation full stop.”
It seems like Thompson either 1) did not understand the interviewer or 2) just simply does not know who Sean Bean is, because she added: “So I don’t know who the actor was but maybe he had an intimacy coordinator accidentally at home.” Well then!
Thompson is known for her roles in Harry Potter, Sense and Sensibility, Pride & Prejudice, and a number of other well-known British films. Sean Bean was in Game Of Thrones, so maybe their paths just haven’t crossed!