• Home
  • Our team
  • Press
  • Contact
  • Intimacy on Set Guidelines
  • Training
  • Self-Care
Intimacy on Set

GQ: The Dangerous Liaisons Starz Prequel Has a Wickedly Toxic Valmont in Nicholas Denton

12/12/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
You really have to make sure that the space is conducive to that flow state. In acting, it's only conducive when you're in a safe space that allows for freedom. [Intimacy coordinator] Ita O'Brien made us a space safe, and the intimacy scenes are really beautiful because of it. And then we can leave that set and be like, "See you later. We're done now, I'm going to go have a coffee and a hot dog." No emotional destruction or power play. We just made some really cool stuff, and then you go home.

I've done a little bit of intimacy stuff in the theater world, but [an intimacy coordinator] is an incredibly welcome addition to any kind of creative space. I'm learning a lot about how a film set can be run in a respectful way. There's so many stories—especially from Australia, where I'm from—where it's just gone awry. I hear stories about how sets have gone to shit, or theater spaces and rehearsals have been so unsafe.

More . . .

0 Comments

GQ: Paul Mescal breaks down the final episode of Normal People (and, yes, the chain)

28/11/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
By Ben Allen

“We had an intimacy coordinator [Ita O’Brien], who was amazing and ultimately the fact that the scenes look really true and organic,” he explained. “But the main thing is me and Daisy felt safe because we had an amazing crew and amazing set of directors on this and it just gave us an opportunity to make something that felt like two young people in a really healthy relationship.”

While the scenes still makes him squeamish, he says he’s happy that they are out in the world. “It’s not nice to watch for me, but nice to be involved in. It’s something that I’m really proud that the world gets to see, and it’s nothing to be ashamed of in any way, shape or form.”


​More . . .
0 Comments

GQ: How Normal People, the Sexiest Show on TV, Gets the Details Right

7/5/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
BY STEPHANIE TALMADGE

Sex as depicted on Normal People is unlike the sex we normally see on TV. Where often intimate scenes are hurried, frantic shots of flailing limbs and searching mouths, here they are languorous, drenched in soft afternoon light. There is a beginning, middle, and end. There’s consent-affirming dialogue throughout. Sometimes there are hiccups—like a stubborn bra clasp or a wrong word uttered that shatters the whole mood. There’s almost always naked lounging afterwards. Ultimately, these scenes just feel real, which is not something anyone’s ever said about Westworld or Game of Thrones. Part of that is of course owed to Rooney’s writing in the book, but the work of Ita O’Brien, the show’s intimacy coordinator, is what brought those scenes to life. While still a little-known field, the intimacy coordinator is becoming increasingly in-demand on sets (O’Brien’s other credits include Netflix’s Sex Education and HBO’s Watchmen) in recent years. “When Weinstein and the Time’s Up movement happened,” O’Brien says, “the industry started going, ‘Okay we have to do better, we can’t tolerate predatory behavior.’”

Somewhat counterintuitively, to achieve the naturalistic feel of the scenes between Marianne and Connell, O’Brien actually choreographed all their movements, down to every thrust. “The choreography brings a real safety and structure, so that everything is known,” O’Brien says, which then enables the actors to relax and really embody the character, rather than worrying about where arms and legs and other body parts need to go. “That’s where you get scenes like you’ve got in Normal People.”

Below, O’Brien talks in detail about producing the steamy scenes between Marianne and Connell, how consent should always come from a place of care, and the importance of PDA.

More . . .

0 Comments

    By publication

    All
    ABC
    Artshub
    Arts Review
    Ask
    Austin Chronicle
    Backstage
    BBC News
    BBC Radio 4
    BBC Radio 5 Live
    BBC Scotland
    BBC The One Show
    BBC World Service
    Belfast Telegraph
    BFI
    Biiinge
    Broadcast
    Broadly
    Brut India
    BT
    Bustle
    CBC
    CBS
    Collider
    Cosmopolitan
    Creative Review
    Daily Beast
    Daily Express
    Dazed
    Deadline
    Decider
    Die Welt
    Digital Spy
    Directors Notes
    Drama Quarterly
    Elle
    El Pais
    Empire
    Entertainment Weekly
    Esquire
    Evening Express
    Evening Standard
    Express Digest
    Female First
    Franceinfo
    Gay Star
    Gay Times
    Girlsroom
    Glamour
    GQ
    Grazia
    Harpers Bazaar
    Hollywood Reporter
    Hot Press
    Huffpost
    I
    I D
    I-D
    Independent.ie
    India Times Post
    Indiewire
    Inside Film
    Inside Hook
    Insider
    InStyle
    Interview Magazine
    Irish Examiner
    Irish Mirror
    Lad Bible
    LA Times
    LBC
    Lifestyle Inq
    Link
    Little White Lies
    London Post
    Longreads
    Mail Online
    Mamamia
    Mashable
    Metro
    Movies Insider
    MSN
    Net-a-Porter
    Netflix
    Newflixqueue
    News18
    New Statesman
    New Yorker
    New York Times
    NME
    NPR
    Opentapes
    Opera Today
    Palatinate
    Popsugar
    Press Association
    Radio NZ
    Radio Times
    Rolling Stone
    Royal Television Society
    RTE
    SBS
    Scen & Film
    Screen Daily
    Shoot
    Sky News
    Spotlight
    Stylecaster
    Stylist
    Suddeutche Zeitung
    Syfy
    The Conversation
    The Cut
    The Daily Mail
    The Face
    The Female Career
    The Financial Times
    The Guardian
    The Hindu
    The Independent
    The Irish Times
    The Irish World
    The Jakarta Post
    The Mirror
    The New European
    The Observer
    The Playlist
    The Screenster Podcast
    The Tab
    The Telegraph
    The Times
    The Washington Post
    Time
    Times Radio
    Toast
    Today FM
    TV Guide
    TV Insider
    Tyla
    Vancouver Courier
    Vanity Fair
    Variety
    Vice
    Vogue
    Vox
    Vulture
    WDR
    WhatsonStage
    Who What Where
    W Magazine
    Women And Hollywood
    World News Network
    W Radio
    Yahoo

    Archives

    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018

    RSS Feed

Picture
Intimacy on Set Ltd
Reg. in England & Wales No.11289710