British filmmakers are being advised to cut sex scenes from future productions in order to protect actors from coronavirus.
Directors are being encouraged to take inspiration from classic romances from Hollywood’s golden age such as Casablanca during the pandemic. In the 1930s, the Hays Code banned the depiction of sex on screen in film, and the new directive suggests a return to similar practices.
The advice comes from Directors UK – the professional association for screen directors in Britain – which has updated its Directing Nudity and Simulated Sex guidelines and told filmmakers to get more creative when portraying sex on screen.
The new guidance suggests that actors “could be shown fixing their own clothes/re-dressing after the event” or show figures “moving under bedclothes”. Directors could also show “the closing of a bedroom door and leave the action to the viewer’s imagination.”
When sex scenes are absoutely essential to the production, the guidance encourages the use of green screen or animation to “composite the required encounter”. Directors UK also suggest casting real life couples who don’t need to socially distance.
It’s the latest advice to be given to filmmakers, after the British Film Commission published new Covid-19 production guidelines in line with government advice earlier this year. The guidelines mean an effective ban on crowd scenes, as well as new social distancing measures.
