Filming intimate scenes is not without its challenges. While some productions have hired intimacy coordinators to aid in creating a safe working environment for actors, the support of a fellow actor might also prove helpful. In that vein, Kate Winslet recently described how she made a young co-star’s intimate scene more comfortable on the set of her upcoming HBO series Mare of Easttown.
Kate Winslet has filmed her fair share of intimate scenes, be it full-blown sex scenes or just kissing. Winslet even helped choreograph and control the content of her intimate scenes with Ammonite co-star Saoirse Ronan. Asked if she’s been discussing taking control over intimate scenes, Winslet relayed a story about how she did just that with Angourie Rice, her 19-year-old co-star for Mare of Easttown. Here’s what Winslet told Vanity Fair:
I suppose I have slightly…though I’m not on some crusade, a hundred percent not. But there’s a young actress who plays my daughter in [the upcoming HBO limited series] Mare of Easttown, her name is Angourie Rice. She’s Australian and she plays an LGBTQ character and there’s an intimate scene between her and another character. She’s a year younger than my daughter Mia and I felt automatically protective of her doing this scene because, suddenly, the two camera operators were men. I was actually done for the day—it was a night shoot and I had wrapped that morning. But I said, ‘I’m just going to stay here and be here for you.’
Kate Winslet goes on to say that she didn’t have a co-star look out for her in the same way when she was younger and first starting off in the film and TV industry. It’s why the actress feels the need to protect a younger actress so “keenly” nowadays.
Of course, back then movies and television sets didn’t employ intimacy coordinators. However, it’s becoming quite the norm on sets in recent years. Kate Winslet concedes that, despite the scene with Angourie Rice not needing an intimacy coordinator, she still wanted to make the experience that much better for the actress. She went to great lengths to do it, too. Here’s how Winslet explained it:
It didn’t require an intimacy coordinator either because it was just kissing and tenderness in the car. But sometimes it’s very hard when you’re young to know how to have a conversation about intimacy in your own room, let alone in the workplace. So I said, ‘I will say the things that you can’t actually make your mouth say. Just tell me.’ And I actually ended up being in the trunk of the car, screwed up in a little ball, just so they weren’t alone in the car with two men who, by the way, are completely lovely, respectful, seasoned camera operators. But still, she was young and it was a potential trigger moment for her. I didn’t want for her to feel that way.
I can’t be sure if this intimate scene was a first for Angourie Rice, but I can only imagine how anxious she might have been to film it. Kate Winslet being there for her, if only to sit in the trunk of a car and make sure she was comfortable, was an incredibly thoughtful gesture in my book. I think Winslet’s actions were also important considering that it was a “potential trigger moment” for Rice.
Mare of Easttown also stars Evan Peters and Watchmen’s Jean Smart, among several others. The limited series will consist of seven episodes, but does not yet have a scheduled premiere date. For more on what to watch in the meantime, be sure to check out our 2020 fall TV guide.
