Sean Bean Emma Thompson

Spontaneity in intimate scenes can be unsafe. Wake up," said Rachel Zegler, who filmed a love scene for West Side Story at age 18.

Lena Hall, with whom Bean filmed a sex scene in TNT’s Snowpiercer, tweeted on Monday that Bean made her feel “comfortable” and was a “true scene partner”—but nonetheless, “if there is any part of me that is feeling weird, gross, over-exposed etc... Rachel Zegler, 21, who became a Hollywood star at a pivotal moment for gender and power in the industry, also weighed in. She also rebutted some of Bean’s statements more directly, including his claim that going with “the flow” back in the day improved the quality of these scenes. “There’s a camera there and a crew, it’s not on your own in a hotel room. Nonetheless, earlier this week, actor Sean Bean (Eddard Stark himself) felt the need to weigh in and claim that intimacy coordinators—professionals who help guide and moderate the filming of sex scenes and intimacy—have “ruined” the process of filming these scenes. An industry that allowed men like Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, and innumerable other predators to thrive probably requires some oversight, guidance, and supervision to ensure that people performing in sex scenes feel safe and supported.

Emma Thompson has defended the vital role of intimacy coaches in Hollywood sex scenes, after Sean Bean questioned whether their presence ruined spontaneity.

“Intimacy coordinators establish an environment of safety for actors,” she wrote in a tweet. “Nobody’s interested in women’s pleasure,” Thompson said, in previous comments to Woman & Home. “Women exhibiting pleasure, performing pleasure, has been seen a lot. “We had a good chemistry between us.” “There’s a camera there and a crew,” she said. “It was joy,” he recalled.

After Sean Bean said that intimacy coordinators 'spoil the spontaneity' of sex scenes, British actor Emma Thompson defended their use on movie and ...

Jameela Jamil, star of The Good Place, delivered: “It should only be technical. He claimed that reducing love to a technological exercise would damage the way that couples interact naturally. Conversing with Fitzy & Wippa on Australian radio station Nova, Dame Emma said they were “fantastically important.” She said many entertainers would acquiesce.

Hot off the release of sexy new film Good Luck to You Leo Grande, Emma Thompson defends intimacy coordinators in response to Sean Bean's criticism.

Hopefully, the recent Bean controversy will serve to educate those in the dark about the important work of intimacy coordinators and normalize their presence on sets. Her defense of intimacy coordinators is even more supportive considering that she didn't feel the need to work with an intimacy coordinator for her recent film. To see such a renowned and well-regarded actress defend the role of intimacy coordinators on set despite not personally needing one validates the experiences and needs of other actors, particularly younger, less-established ones that feel less comfortable speaking out. "Intimacy coordinators are fantastically important, and I don't know if you were speaking to someone who found it distracting, but another conversation, you might find that people go, 'It made me comfortable, it made me feel safe, it made me feel as though I was able to do this work.' So intimacy coordinators are the most fantastic introduction in our work. Thompson did not utilize an intimacy coordinator on set, citing a comfortable and trusting collaboration between herself, her co-star, and the director. A racy, emotional dramedy that takes place in one location (a hotel room), the film contained plenty of intimate moments.