Without an intimacy coordinator, Joe Alwyn says filming sex scenes feels “so different”

Anyone who spent some time in the Sally Rooney cinematic universe knows: there will be copious canoodling, and it will certainly be intimate. There’s likely no one who knows this better, however, than the Rooney-verse’s leading men (and some of its predominant sex-havers): Normal People’s Paul Mescal and Conversations With Friends’ Joe Alwyn.

In a new conversation for Variety’s Actors on Actors series, Alwyn and Mescal discuss their different experiences filming sex scenes, in their respective Hulu series’ and across their careers. Per Alwyn, working with an intimacy coordinator (as he does on Conversations With Friends) and without one (as he did recently, in Claire Denis’ latest Stars At Noon) is “so different.”

“The scenes are spoken about. They’re rehearsed,” Alwyn explains of Conversations With Friends’ filming process. “Every movement is almost choreographed like a dance or a fight. And they’re quite blocked, even though there’s freedom within it.”

Although one of an intimacy coordinator’s main purposes on set is to foster a safe and trusting environment, Alwyn says he still had that feeling on the Stars At Noon set.

“I trusted Claire [Denis] and I trusted the crew,” Alwyn says of working on the director’s Stars At Noon. “And Margaret [Qualley], obviously. And you feel safe within that. I think trust and feeling safe is the main thing.”

Mescal sees the “hot topic” of intimacy coordination as something that’s all about balance—sex scenes should feel real and true to the project, but never at the cost of safety.

“I think you’re right that you never want scenes around intimacy to feel stale,” Mescal responds to Alwyn. “But ultimately they have to feel safe. And I think you can feel safe multiple ways, and that’s through trust.”