Imogen Poots has spoken out about her role in her latest movie, science fiction thriller Vivarium, and how much she appreciated working with an “Intimacy Coordinator” for the film’s sex scenes.
Director Derek Cianfrance hired a coordinator to make the actors feel more comfortable on set while filming the saucy scenes.
Poots told SAG Foundation’s Conversations that she had never worked with a coordinator like this before and remarked on how she was impressed with the professionalism shown on the set of Vivarium.
Imogen Poots said professionalism on-set was a “great relief”
She said, “To have this clear, lucid professionalism on set is a great relief for people coming up through the industry and also for all of us actors.”
She said of the sex scenes, “It was really about making sure that you’re covered in more than one way.”
Speaking about the Intimacy Coordinator, she added, “I did call her about whether I was to have a merkin for the scene, and she was like, ‘Do you want one?’ And I was like, ‘No!’ It’s like a huge pubic wig, but I didn’t know if I was supposed to do that!”
Poots also explained: “In the beginning of my career, as a very young teenager, I was lucky that I did not collide with any sinister activity.
“To have that second pair of professional eyes that are totally checking out what’s happening, where you are, and what the scene is… I mean, I’ve had sex scenes in the past, where the costume designer is using Band-Aids to cover things, and it’s all so hodgepodge.”
Imogen Poots and Jesse Eisenberg star together in “claustrophobic” sci-fi horror
The sci-fi thriller also starred Jesse Eisenberg, who Poots worked with ten years ago, and the 28 Weeks Later star said she hugely respects The Social Network star.
The pair have reunited in this movie to play a husband and wife team who’ve been abducted and forced to bring up an artificial baby to earn their freedom.
The movie has been described as bleak and claustrophobic, but Poots is no stranger to a horror film, having put in a steady performance in last year’s Black Christmas.
Sex scenes can be notoriously daunting for actors, last year, Emilia Clarke spoke of how terrifying she found the nude scenes on the set of Game of Thrones.
At first, Clarke was taken aback by what was expected of her but now says has grown “a lot more savvy” since then and that she is better at managing the pressure.