Spoilers ahead for The Housemaid.
There are a number of exciting movies in theaters this Holiday Season, including the book to screen adaptation The Housemaid. Directed by Paul Feig, critics have been praising The Housemaid, and the movie's cast is helping to buoy fan excitement. But the filmmaker got real with CinemaBlend about being uncomfortable filming sex scenes, and the piece of advice the movie's intimacy coordinator that helped him.
Intimacy Coordinators are a regularly new position in TV and film, helping the actors feel comfortable doing vulnerable work on camera. But they also help crew members and directors. As you can see in the video above, I spoke to Feig ahead of The Housemaid's release, where he got honest about feeling uncomfortable directing love senes. In his words:
Well, I mean directing a love scene, you know, a sex scene if you will, is always uncomfortable for me. But we had a great intimacy coordinator.
The Housemaid's ending might be different than the book, but the steamy scenes between Sydney Sweeney's Millie and Brandon Sklenar's Andrew were not. Once they kick Amanda Seyfried's Nina out of her own home, there's a full on montage of the two actors making love throughout the house (as well as another scene in a hotel room).
But while Feig was nervous shooting these sequences, he told me that the actors seemingly didn't share this concerns. As he put it:
So that was challenging more than anything. But they were so great. I mean, the two actors who did it, no spoilers, were just so comfortable with it and they were cool. I was the old hung up guy in the room. But by the end of shooting you're just yelling, you know 'Have an orgasm!'
Talk about a weird piece of direction to shout out. But it seems like the nerve were one-sided for Paul Feig. Sydney Sweeney did a ton of nude scenes for Euphoria (which is streaming with a HBO Max subscription), while Brandon Sklenar has had intimate scenes on TV and film. Per the director's comments, he was the only one nervous about filming the sex scenes in The Housemaid.
Luckily for Feig, he got some A+ advice from the movie's intimacy coordinator that helped to change his perspective of the situation. As he told me:
Well, Lizzy [Talbot] the intimacy coordinator said 'Face these like they're stunt scenes.' And I go 'Oh okay that's the key.'
I have to assume this is a sentiment that Lizzy Talbot has also shared with actors on movie sets. Because while love scenes might look sexy and spontaneous, they're anything but. Instead, they're methodically planned and shot to make sure everyone is comfortable, and that simulated sex looks real but doesn't feel real. Indeed, Heated Rivalry's Connor Storrie has spoken about just how technical love scenes are to shoot.
The Housemaid is in theaters now as part of the 2025 movie release list, so fans can judge for themselves. We'll just have to wait and see how it performs at the box office, and if Paul Feig gets to make a sequel or two based around the following novels.
