Emma Thompson Says Intimacy Coordinators “Fantastically Important” After Sean Bean Suggests They “Spoil Spontaneity”

deadline.com:

Sorry Sean Bean, Emma Thompson begs to differ. In the latest reaction to Bean’s recent controversial remarks criticizing the use of on-set intimacy coordinators, Thompson said on an Australian radio show that such coordinators are “fantastically important.” Although she didn’t mention Bean by name, Thompson, when told of the actor’s statement that the use of intimacy coordinators would “inhibit” him, said, “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.” She said that while the actor in question might find it “distracting,” others would say, “it made me comfortable, it made me feel safe, it made me feel as though I was able to do this work’.” Regarding Bean specifically, Thompson quipped, “I don’t know who the actor was, but maybe he had an intimacy coordinator accidentally at home?” Thompson discussed the matter on Australian radio show and podcast Fitzy & Wippa.

Thompson’s latest film, Good Luck To You, Leo Grande, made extensive use of intimacy coordinators. Bean, who played Ned Stark on Game of Thrones, recently told the Times of London Sunday Magazine that he feared intimacy coordinators would “spoil the spontaneity” of intimate scenes. “I think the natural way lovers behave would be ruined by someone bringing it right down to a technical exercise,” he said. “It would inhibit me more because it’s drawing attention to things.” Bean’s comments drew quick response from colleagues, including his Snowpiercer co-star Lena Hall and West Side Story‘s Rachel Zegler, who has noted in the past that she was 17 when she shot love scenes with her then-25-year-old co-star