Michael Douglas Suggests Sex Scenes Stifled in Post-MeToo Hollywood

Veteran actor Michael Douglas suggested that the filming of sex scenes has become stifled by the presence of intimacy coordinators in post-MeToo Hollywood.

Douglas, who himself is no stranger to sex scenes after having filmed erotic thrillers Fatal Attraction (1987) and Basic Instinct (1992), lamented to the Radio Times that the presence of intimacy coordinators on set has taken artistic license away from filmmakers. He did, however, acknowledge that actors and directors took things too far in the past and that some women were indeed subject to harassment.

“I’m past the age where I’ve got to worry about that. But it’s interesting with all the intimacy coordinators,” he said. “It feels like executives taking control away from filmmakers — but there have been some terrible faux pas and harassment.”

“Sex scenes are like fight scenes, it’s all choreographed. In my experience, you take responsibility as the man to make sure the woman is comfortable, you talk it through. You say, ‘OK, I’m gonna touch you here if that’s all right’. It’s very slow but looks like it’s happening organically, which is hopefully what good acting looks like,” he added.

Douglas also said that actors who gained a bad reputation for intimacy scenes would be dealt with by losing work.

“I’m sure there were people that overstepped their boundaries, but before, we seemed to take care of that ourselves. They would get a reputation and that would take care of them.

“But I talked to the ladies, [because] I did a few of those sex movies — sexual movies — and we joke about it now, what it would have been like to have an intimacy coordinator working with us,” he added.

Paul Roland Bois directed the award-winning Christian tech thriller, EXEMPLUM, which can be viewed for FREE on YouTube or Tubi. “Better than Killers of the Flower Moon,” wrote Mark Judge. “You haven’t seen a story like this before,” wrote Christian Toto. A high-quality, ad-free rental can also be streamed on Google Play, Vimeo on Demand, or YouTube Movies. Follow on X @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.