A Hollywood career in front of the cameras has many perks, but filming forced, awkward sex scenes is certainly not one of them – especially when things don’t unfold quite according to plan.
From excessive perspiration to agonising injuries, the following actors (and their co-stars) certainly made some lasting memories.
1. Allison Janney – Life During Wartime
Photo credit: Getty Images
Allison Janney has, most probably, seen it all during her 30-year career in television, film and theatre, but we doubt that anything will surpass one particular moment during the 2009 comedy-drama Life During Wartime when a sex scene with her co-star Michael Lerner went south.
“We had to have sex up against a wall and they started spraying us with glistening stuff to make us look sweaty, but no-one seemed to realise that we were standing on a marble floor,” the I, Tonya actor told People magazine.
“They said ‘Action’ and he pulled me up against the wall and his feet slipped out from under him and he went crashing down on the floor. It was terrible, but it was one of those moments I’ll never forget.”
And neither will we now, Allison.
2. Anne Hathaway – Love & Other Drugs
Photo credit: 20th Century Fox
It’s to be expected that crew members will get an eyeful on occasions during their time on set, but the folks working on Love & Other Drugs certainly got more than they bargained for when Anne Hathaway accidentally stripped off – we’re talking the lot – when she didn’t need to, flashing her bits to all and sundry.
Anne, who starred alongside Jake Gyllenhaal in the movie, thought that the cameras were rolling – but no, they were not, and the Ocean’s 8 actor was standing there in the buff when there was absolutely no need.
“I have to remove my trench coat and be nude underneath, and I thought we were filming,” she said at the New York premiere of the movie. “But it turned out we were just rehearsing and I got unnecessarily naked in front of a lot of people!”
Now that’s being committed to the role.
3. Ryan Reynolds – The Change-Up
Photo credit: Getty Images
No-one wants to spend longer than they have to simulating sex in front of a film crew because, well, it’s hideously weird. But Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds hit a stumbling block when shooting with Olivia Wilde, who decided to play a little prank on him.
“So in the scene she’s sitting there, and I take her top off, I take her bra off, and she has those pasties on, but she’s drawn these adorable little smiley faces on them,” he said on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. “And I forget every line in the scene – not just from this movie, from every movie I’ve done.”
Not ideal.
“At some point in the scene, she takes my hands and puts them on her breasts,” Reynolds continued. “I take my hands away and I look down at my hands, and there are two frickin’ smiley faces on them and I have no idea what to do. And I reflexively, like an idiot, just put my hands right back on her breasts.”
It’s not often Marvel‘s ultimate anti-hero is left flummoxed. Nice work, Wilde.
4. Robert Pattinson – Maps to the Stars
Photo credit: NBC Universal
Shooting a sex scene is already toe-curling enough for the people involved – how would you feeling whipping your kit off in a room full of strangers, cameras poised to capture every move, groan and grunt? – but The Lost City of Z actor made things a whole lot worse during an intimate moment with Hollywood royalty Julianne Moore.
“I sweat like a f**king crazy person,” he told Heat magazine. “I was trying to literally catch drops of sweat to stop them hitting her back. Afterwards she was like, ‘Are you having a panic attack?’ It was so embarrassing.”
Poor Rob. Not his finest hour.
Photo credit: Universal Pictures
A movie that is almost entirely about sex is going to involve some highly intensive filming days, but Mr Grey, played by Jamie Dornan, turned things up a notch when he actually wounded his co-star Dakota Johnson in a moment of on-screen passion.
“I got whiplash once from him throwing me on the bed,” she told Glamour. “So f**king painful. I wish we had a gag reel from the shoot.”
Now that, we can all agree, would be a Best Film contender.
Photo credit: Warner Bros.
Injuries are clearly a running theme when it comes to getting physical on set, and not the Tom Cruise barreling out of a plane kind – and it was Alexander Skarsgård who suffered a minor injury when Margot Robbie lamped The Little Drummer Girl’s leading man during filming.
“I didn’t injure Alexander,” the Mary Queen of Scots, star told Buro 24/7. “And I didn’t punch him in the face, at least not hard. But he’s a pretty strong guy. He can take it. We just got carried away a bit.”
Do not try this at home, folks.
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