We can trace the birth of the modern intimacy coordinator to a specific time, place, and catalyst: the early weeks of 2018, when The Deuce actor Emily Meade made a proposal to the brass at HBO. At the height of the #MeToo movement, she asked the company to “hire a crew member whose job, specifically, would be to oversee the planning, preparation, and performance of sex scenes, much like a stunt coordinator,” as Vanity Fair wrote in 2019. HBO did, and that move had a dramatic ripple effect. Soon, intimacy coordinators had become de rigueur on sets both large and small. Seven years later, though, some stars have begun to open up publicly about their complicated feelings toward these professionals—and wonder whether they’re truly necessary after all. Why? Vivian Manning-Schaffel spoke to three intimacy coordinators to find out.
Elsewhere, we’re feeding our holiday senioritis (nobody’s going to do any actual work next week, right?) by bingeing Stranger Things, getting hyped for Marty Supreme, and, gulp, looking at those new Epstein files. See you Monday! |
HILLARY BUSIS,
SENIOR EDITOR |
BY VIVIAN MANNING-SCHAFFEL |
Since the #MeToo era, they’ve been making intimate scenes easier for all involved. But more recently—and amid pushback against “woke” culture from conservatives—a handful of A-listers have expressed skepticism about the role of ICs and the position’s value more generally: “I was like, ‘Girl, I’m from the era where you get naked, you get in bed, the camera’s on,’” Gwyneth Paltrow once told VF. |
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