Kristen Stewart Says She’s “Sick” of Seeing “Run-of-the-Mill” Sex Scenes
“If anyone takes anything from this movie, it’s to ask your partner what they like. You don’t see that in a movie.”
Actress Kristen Stewart is tired of filming outdated sex scenes.
In a recent interview with NBC News, Stewart opened up about her desire to make the intimate scenes in her most recent film Love Lies Bleeding more fresh and realistic.
"The run-of-the-mill, like, just-go-for-it simulated sex thing is so rote, and it’s like actors do have this default thing where, like, ‘Okay, we’re supposed to make out and have sex now,'" the Twilight start told the publication. "That’s just not how people have sex, and I’m so sick of seeing it."
Stewart went on to say that "really nailing the details and talking about the physical experience more so than even seeing it" helped her create intimate scenes she thought were more authentic.
"Talking to each other, sharing space, having it not be cut up into a ton of different shots, it felt like … a really beautiful thing to deliver an experience that was, like, literal instead of faux," she explained.
Kristen Stewart attends the Los Angeles Premiere Of A24's 'Love Lies Bleeding' at Fine Arts Theatre on March 05, 2024.
Stewart's co-star, Katy O’Brian, added that the sex scenes in the film can double as a teachable moment for viewers.
"If anyone takes anything from this movie, it’s to ask your partner what they like," O'Brian said. "You don’t see that in a movie."
In the film Love Lies Bleeding, Stewart plays an introverted, reclusive gym manager who falls in love for a bodybuilder (played by O'Brian) hellbent on pursuing her dreams in Las Vegas.
O'Brian told NBC News that the co-stars "obviously" had the help of and "worked with an intimacy coordinator and everything," adding that her and Stewart "talked about the scenes and comfort zones."
According to SAG-AFTRA, an intimacy coordinator "is an advocate, a liaison between actors and production, and a movement coach and/or choreographer in regards to nudity and simulated sex and other intimate and hyper-exposed scenes."
In a previous interview with Out magazine, Stewart said that in addition to more accurate sex scenes, the film reminds viewers that "gay people do a lot of stuff" and do not "just come out."
Jena Malone, Kristen Stewart, Oliver Kassman, writer/director Rose Glass, Katy O’Brian and Anna Baryshnikov seen at the Los Angeles Premiere of A24's 'Love Lies Bleeding.'
In an interview with Yahoo Entertainment, both O'Brian and Stewart praised their intimacy coordinator for helping the co-starts make the film's sex scenes a success.
"It felt free," O'Brian told the outlet when discussing what it was like to work with the film's intimacy coordinator. "I know people are like, 'Oh, it just hinders what you can do' and didn't."
"No, I was into it," Stewart chimed in. "It's almost like having a nice open conversation about like what you all want and then, so you can have really good sex."
During the same interview, Stewart revealed that what she experienced when working on Love Lies Bleeding was an exception, not the rule, when it comes to her overall experience filming sex scenes.
"I've always just been sort of thrown into (sex scenes)," Stewart said. "Every scene usually is just—they begin kissing, maybe someone says something, they fall down, they begin to make love. And then you're like, cool so it's just a free-for-all, huh? Like, no one knows where anything's going? We didn't do it like that at all."
