It's no secret by now that Bridgerton had an intimacy coordinator help put together all of those steamy scenes for the Regency-set romance, and, to great effect. This has become more and more commonplace as productions try to deliver the heat for eventual viewers, while still making sure that the actors are completely comfortable with everything they're doing (and having done to them) on screen. But, if you've been wondering what Bridgerton's intimacy coordinator actually does on the set of the series, we now know.
Bridgerton shocked a lot of fans of typical period pieces who've become used to a chaste view of the past with its Taylor Swift scored sexytimes, butt-baring tree bangs, group sex, and a lot more randy activity either showing up on screen or being very strongly alluded to. We've already heard from the show's intimacy coordinator, Elizabeth Talbot, about just how difficult it was to arrange that now-famous, three minute sex montage involving Phoebe Dynevor and Regé-Jean Page, but now she's opening up about her role on set when scenes like those are actually filming.
While talking with CNN, Talbot explained what she does during production: and said:
With the concept of consent that we work with, of course, if there's anything where at any point anyone's like, 'Oh, you know, I don't want to do this,' they never will. And it's also my job to step in front of any director or producer and be like, 'Hey, you know, like they're not comfortable with this.' I've been really lucky to work with great directors and producers so that's never happened.
Jonathan Bailey, who stars in the romance as Anthony and had several sex scenes in Season 1 (with more likely coming up in Bridgerton Season 2, as it focuses on his character's love story as the central one), spoke about working with Elizabeth Talbot earlier this year. He noted how safe she, and intimacy coordinators in general, make sure they have the particulars of the boundaries of everyone involved in a sex scene, and then deal with helping to choreograph the actual scene within those boundaries. But, that's done way before the scene if filmed, and Talbot has revealed exactly why Bridgerton still needed her around once they did begin filming.
While setting up sex and other intimate scenes before the shoot is incredibly important work, it turns out that Elizabeth Talbot and others who work as intimacy coordinators are also on standby as the scene films. This way, actors can come to them if they're changed their mind about doing something, or feel uncomfortable in any way, and the coordinator can then go to the director / other cast member(s) in the scene or whomever else, to help the actor voice their concerns and stand firm on any decisions, new or otherwise.
Obviously, this is also a very important process for Talbot and her fellow intimacy coordinators to be a part of. It can be incredibly difficult to put your foot down and say what you need, especially in an instance where you may have already agreed to something multiple times beforehand, but then feel differently as you begin to film. I imagine that directors and producers can likely also be a bit intimidating to deal with sometimes, particularly if the actor is still early in their career or simply dealing with a project of a much larger scale than they're typically used to. So, intimacy coordinators are there to help at all stages of the process.
Luckily, Elizabeth Talbot hasn't had any problems stepping in and assisting actors who need to establish, or re-establish, their boundaries, on Bridgerton or otherwise.
The Bridgerton Season 2 cast will be back on Netflix at some point in the near-ish future, but for more to watch in the coming weeks, check out our guide to 2021 summer TV premieres!
