Handling sex/kissing scenes

Azmyth

Azmyth

Veteran
In my film, one of the characters has a kissing scene, a few scenes where she's "flirty" and one scene where she takes her shirt off due to being covered in blood. There is no nudity, but she is seen wearing a bra but is fairly covered in blood.

The actresses we liked for this role, don't have any other acting experience.. they just happened to be good for the part naturally. Because we weren't really worried about anything other than their ability to act the part during auditions, we did not cover this VERY important aspect of the character with them at the audition (one of the things we learned that we should have done)

I'm planning to contact them as we are having them read again, and intend to bring it up to them this time as they will be reading the script and will notice it anyway. If the actress is uncomfortable with doing some of the things required, but is right for the part in every other aspect.. How would you handle it? This is a deferred pay gig, so there is a chance they'd not be ok with it, and I would definitely understand. Should I rewrite the scenes to work around it, or find someone else who doesn't mind doing it?
 
You need to be upfront about anything an actor might find creepy or offensive to perform - that applies both to any 'sexy' stuff and also to gore and blood etc, as some actors just don't like performing being stabbed/decapitated/tortured etc etc. (Equally they may think it's really cool...)

If you have avaialble both your proposed kissers at the same time, it may be worth asking them to kiss as part of the audition - some pairs of people have great onscreen chemistry and others just don't, regardless of their individual acting ability.

For anything involving people getting undressed, an extra suggestion is to ask the actor to do so as part of the casting session (after prewarning them!). No, not so you can ogle his/her body, but to help prove whether they will actually do it when the time comes oncamera - many films have collapsed after an actor chickens out of their semi/fully naked scene in the middle of shooting. Such actors are likely to also chicken out of doing the scene (including the disrobing) for the director - and better to know during casting than during shooting.

Rewriting? Yes, if the actor is perfect but doesn't want to do one embarrassing/yucky bit, you do need to ask yourself how essential that bit is to the film. In particular, can you imply rather than show whatever it is?
 
Last edited:
good advice.

The way the kissing scene works, is two college kids who are dating have a tendency to do public displays of affection which grosses everyone else around them out. We could cut the kissing, but there would have be some way to "gross" the other characters out without it. One of the lines that is used is "get a room already".

The shirtless scene is after a confrontation with the bad guys, that leave her bloodied. She insists on taking a shower, but only gets partially undressed before being killed. I supposed we could "imply" somehow that she took off her shirt without actually showing it.. or, we could just never let her get that far into taking a shower.

When your not paying people up front, its alot harder to get them to do things they would have otherwise done with no questions if they were getting paid.
 
Azmyth said:
If the actress is uncomfortable with doing some of the things required, but is right for the part in every other aspect.. How would you handle it?
Click to expand...

Well, if the scene is absolutely crucial and you MUST have it then that automatically disqualifies her, no matter how good she is. If it's not then you can do rewrite. But it's crucial that both parties understand upfront what needed to be done, or else it's not going to turn out well.
 
Depends on the actor/actress. You reeeeeealy should bring these issues up at the audition.

You should definitely call them up and explain what the plan is and apologize about forgetting to tell them. The kissing thing is usually no big deal but partial nudity may be. Especially since it was not brought up in the beginning. It can make an actress feel uncomfortable and wonder if you are sleazy by trying to hit them with it after shooting had started. Not that you are sleazy mind you, but it can make an actress feel that way.

You will have to be careful how you handle this. If they know you are new to this and like you they may have no problem with it. only one way to find out. Just be considerate but on the other hand if they say know and the scenes are crucial you will to make some hard decisions without coming across as an ass.
 
Thanks again for the great info. Luckily, the only role we have that requires this.. we only really had one person we really liked for the part, and I know her personally. So, it shouldn't be an issue with her. We had thought of another person who we were looking at for another role, who we thought might be good for this one as well, and she was the one we were worried about because of not telling her to begin with.

The good thing is, she was auditioning for a completely different part and thats the part we still would rather see her in.. but were trying to explore the options. I am going to contact her and let her know before she reads it in the script. Actresses with experience are not as huge of deal since they are used to doing these kinds of scenes... for the most part.. but someone with no experience who just happened to be good.. might have other issues that would make them uncomfortable such as BF's/husbands or just plain out being self conscious. I can totally understand that. This is a horror movie, but there is NO nudity in the film. Which, is "odd" for this genre. A girl in her bra drenched in blood is as close as it gets, and I even wanted to do that as tasteful as possible. I think too many horror movies try to sell themselves on that stuff, and thus the stories and acting are always HORRID.
 
There are actors who will not do any kind of nudity at all, there are others who actually get a thrill from doing it, and there are those who are somewhere inbetween. As others have said, this is something one needs to mention up front, and while I've never done anything like this in an audition either as an actor or in casting, it does need to be part of that process. Since the actress is your friend it may help somewhat, as well as the fact that the activities in question are relatively mild, but I would certainly discuss it with her asap so you can cast someone else or rewrite if needed.

Like I said - people range all the way from dead set against doing this sort of thing to having dreamt of doing it since youth, and there's no way to know where they fall on that spectrum without asking. And seeing...
 
Well, the friend is out. She's engaged, and just said she wouldn't feel comfortable doing either of those things due to that. I totally understand, and its not a huge issue. I basically told her that I understood, but even with a rewrite, the character has to be flirty with her male counterpart in the film and if that was something that would bother her fiance.. then it was probably best that she not do it. I've reposted the casting call for that role and made sure I made those details very clear this time. I can probably get by without either of those things in the film, but I'd like to cast someone for it the way its written first and then only change it if its impossible. It makes you wonder how these movies get cast where the directing/acting and everything about it is horrible.. but the film is 98% nudity.
 
Azmyth said:
I
I'm planning to contact them as we are having them read again, and intend to bring it up to them this time as they will be reading the script and will notice it anyway. If the actress is uncomfortable with doing some of the things required, but is right for the part in every other aspect.. How would you handle it? This is a deferred pay gig, so there is a chance they'd not be ok with it, and I would definitely understand. Should I rewrite the scenes to work around it, or find someone else who doesn't mind doing it?
Click to expand...

Depending on the intimacy requirements... if the actor or actress is 'uncomfortable' with a scene, either one of two things... edit the scene to their comfort level, or find someone who is more able to do the script as written.

As for what now, on the second read offer, make it clear, 'kissing scene is in the script', and 'clothed in bra' scene is in the script... in fact, when I put up a script that had some potentially problematic scenes, as part of the initial ad I stated that there were some scenes that contained some sort of sexy/revealing/partialnudity action, or 'kissing/caressing', etc. And in the initial response, I ask if the person does have issues with the script as written.

As it is I wasn't able to shoot that film as of yet... so when I do, I'll publish the ad similarly...

You can 'shoot' in such a way, especially for a reaction shot, such that actual lip contact need not be made, with the actor's heads hiding any lack of actual kissing, but showing those beyond and their reactions.

As a note, note, a number of actresses are writing 'no nudity' contracts, or making it known they will not sign up for a movie that has such scenes, so, it does make things more difficult if one does have a script that just doesn't work without such scenes...
 
Pardon me for saying it just like this, but as far as kissing is concerned, no serious adult actor would refuse an otherwise desirable role involving opposite-sex kissing. It would be tremendously career-restricting, especially of course, for younger actors.
 
Ted Spencer said:
Pardon me for saying it just like this, but as far as kissing is concerned, no serious adult actor would refuse an otherwise desirable role involving opposite-sex kissing. It would be tremendously career-restricting, especially of course, for younger actors.
Click to expand...

Thats the thing here, and I understand why the issue has arisen.

Alot of the people we had audition for this part are "locals" who aren't really actors other than some theatre in high school in college. So this is a completely new thing for them, and somewhat of a culture shock I'd guess.

The experienced actors have no issues with things like this, but we already have them cast in other roles.

The best thing to do at this point is to look for other actresses who may want to read for the part, and make sure that this info is known to them before they even agree to audition. So this time around we can avoid wasting their time, and ours.

The male character has done alot of theatre and is completely fine with the scenes, so I'd like to find a female who is equally as ok.

The funny thing is, for our film to be a horror film.. its extremely tame compared to most. There is NO nudity at all, and the scene I was referring to where the female would be wearing only a bra, it would really be no different than wearing a bathing suit, cept she'd have on a skirt with it. Its really very tame compared to most horror films. I don't want to sell my film on sex/nudity but there is a place for some content like that, in the right doses.
 
Azmyth said:
Thats the thing here, and I understand why the issue has arisen.

Alot of the people we had audition for this part are "locals" who aren't really actors other than some theatre in high school in college. So this is a completely new thing for them, and somewhat of a culture shock I'd guess.

The experienced actors have no issues with things like this, but we already have them cast in other roles.
Click to expand...

I've seen seminars here in San Diego and LA for actors directed to 'playing intimate scenes'. The idea that even if an actor or actress is ok with intimate scenes there are 'filmic' grounds for training. (Heck even wedding photographers could use a bit of training to coach their bridal couple on 'what looks good on camera' vs. 'what may feel good at the moment for them'... try coaching a couple for the 'dip' type embrace...)

I hear a supply of breath mints should be on set as well...

So, I think you should also plan for some rehearsal time, and ask if the talent your interested in, is up for some additional time to work things out.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top