Celebrities Spill Behind-the-Scenes Secrets About Sex Scenes: ‘Bridgerton’ and More

Cillian Murphy in ‘Oppenheimer’

Cillian starred as Robert Oppenheimer in the July 2023 film and shared a few NSFW sex scenes with Florence Pugh, who played Jean Tatlock, including a fully nude scene. In an interview, Cillian said those moments were “written deliberately.”

“[Director Christopher Nolan] knew that those scenes would get the movie the rating that it got. And I think when you see it, it’s so f—king powerful,” he said. “And they’re not gratuitous. They’re perfect. And Florence is just amazing.”

Chloe Bailey in ‘Swarm’

The Swarm actress revealed in a March 2023 interview with Deadline that she and scene partner Damson Idris “literally had a bouncy ball between [them]” to shoot their sex scene.

“Damson made it really comfortable,” Chloe explained. “You know, there were limited people on set — it was a closed set. We were laughing in between. … It took all the nervousness away from it.”

Riley Keough in ‘Daisy Jones & the Six’

Riley Keough loved the “funny” idea to have her husband, Ben Smith-Petersen, play a “random person” her character hooks up with on the Amazon Prime series, but it proved to be much more “awkward” than she anticipated.

“We got there and, like, [it was] really uncomfortable,” she explained during an interview on Late Night With Seth Meyers in March 2023. “I really kept feeling inclined to be like, ‘In real life, it’s not like this.’ And then I was like, ‘I’ll just, you know, keep that to myself.’”

Brad Pitt in ‘Babylon’

At the December 2022 premiere of his movie Babylon, Brad Pitt dropped a bombshell by emphasizing how much naked scenes the cast had to film.

“Man, the party scene went on for two weeks, and, like, the first day was a bit shocking, even for me. ‘Wow, we’re doing this? We’re really doing this?’” Brad explained to The Hollywood Reporter. “A lot of nudity, a lot of nudity. And then, kinda, day three, it was like, ‘Yeah, a lot of nudity.’ And then two weeks into it, it was just like another day at the office.”

Natalie Portman in ‘Black Swan’

During a November 2010 interview with MTV News, Natalie recalled how “awkward” it felt to film a sex scene with friend Mila Kunis for their film Black Swan.

“I almost feel like it would be easier to do it with someone you didn’t know,” she admitted but added that it was “great to have a friend there who, we could laugh and make jokes and get over it together.”

Penn Badgley in ‘You’

The actor revealed that he “always” gets the same note while filming masturbation scenes for the Netflix show.

“I’ve now done it so many times on camera. It’s a strange — you don’t think it’s going to be that big of a deal,” Penn shared during a July 2022 episode of the “Podcrushed” podcast. “And then you discover in front of a crew of people with a camera on your face, knowing that, in all likelihood, millions of people are going to see this, you’re simulating masturbation.”

He added, “I have to say sometimes those scenes are harder than with a person because it’s just like, alright, this is what I’m doing. …  I’ve always gotten the note to make it less creepy. They say like, ‘Close your eyes or go faster or go slower.’ I’m like, ‘What? This man is f–king murdering people, and he’s masturbating in the street. You’re saying I’m making it creepy? How is it I’m the one making it creepy?'”

Jennifer Lawrence in ‘Passengers’

“I was like, ‘Oh, I’m gonna get hammered for the sex scene,’ because it’s stressful and scary,” Jennifer Lawrence said about her sex scene with Chris Pratt. “And then you forget you’re at work, so you’re gonna be there for eight hours. I was incredibly hungover by the time they got to me.”

Kristen Stewart in ‘Twilight’

Kristen Stewart called filming her Twilight sex scene with ex-boyfriend Robert Pattinson “agonizing.” However, it was because the costars felt like they had impossibly high standards to have “the most epic sex scene” of all time. 
“It had to be transcendent and otherworldly, inhuman, better sex than you can possibly ever imagine,” she said during an interview with Harper’s Bazaar. “And we were like, ‘How do we live up to that?'”

Chris Pratt

Chris opened up about what it’s actually like on set while shooting sex scenes. 
 
“Essentially, it’s your job to just minimize the discomfort by, you know, making sure there’s nobody else on set than is required, having a closed set, periodically checking in, and just doing everything you can to assure the person you’re with that they’re OK,” the Magnificent Seven actor told People. “For all the sense of anxiety that comes leading up to a scene like this, you get into it and you realize there’s really nothing sexy about it at all. It’s just really awkward. But you know, it’s part of the gig and you just do what you can to check in with the other person and try to minimize any discomfort that they feel.”

Margot Robbie in ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’

Margot Robbie was a relative newcomer while filming The Wolf of Wall Street with Leonardo DiCaprio, but that didn’t stop her from being assertive during their sexy scenes. 
 
“I kind of pushed Leo’s head to one side and told him he was in my light,” the Suicide Squad actress told Manhattan magazine. “He was so incredulous that I had physically moved him out of the way, he was like, ‘Did you really just do that?'”
 

Ryan Reynolds and Olivia Wilde in ‘The Change-Up’

Sometimes shooting sex scenes are just plain funny. Ryan Reynolds talked about an intimate scene with Olivia Wilde in their 2011 flick. 
“In the scene, she’s sitting there and I take her top off and the bra off, and she has those pasties on, but she’s drawn these adorable little smiley faces on them,” he said on The Tonight Show. “And I forget every line. Not just from this movie, but from every other movie I’ve done.”

Allison Williams and Ebon Moss-Bachrach in ‘Girls’

Allison Williams (a.k.a. Marnie Michaels) explained the apparatus she wore while shooting a scene where Ebon Moss-Bachrach, who played Desi Harperin, went down on her backside. 
“I was like, we’re going to rig something that’s invisible from the side, but feels like a pillow when he puts his face into it.” the Get Out actress told Vulture. “It was so elaborate … It involved Spanx that we cut away and glued down and menstrual pads and two of those weird thongs.”

Keira Knightley in ‘A Dangerous Method’

Keira Knightley brought a security guard on the Dangerous Mind set when she shot a sex scene with costar Michael Fassbender. 
“I did actually say to Michael before one of the scenes — I was like, ‘I’ve got a security guard outside. You touch me and he’s gonna break your legs!’” she explained to the Huffington Post. “And he was like, ‘Keira, you’re tied to a bed. You’re not really in a position to say that.’ I said, ‘I guess you’re right.’”

Jamie Dornan in ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’

Jamie Dornan, who starred as Christian Grey in the franchise along with Dakota Johnson, said during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live that he wore a “wee bag” to avoid penetration.
However, when he looked closer at the “bag” he was given, the tag read “Inmate #3,” meaning it was previously used. 

Jon Hamm With Kristen Wiig in ‘Bridesmaids’

Bridesmaids opens up with a hilariously awkward sex scene involving Jon Hamm and Kristen Wiig. The Mad Men actor revealed it was even more ridiculous behind the scenes.

“I am not a small human being. I weigh at least 200 pounds and I’m 6-foot-2,” he previously told Playboy. “And Wiig is a twig; She’s a skinny little thing. I told her, ‘Just punch me in the side if I’m hurting you.'”