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Jennifer Aniston and Gwyneth Paltrow both think intimacy coordinators make sex scenes more awkward to film. Not everyone agrees.
Jennifer Aniston and Gwyneth Paltrow have more in common than their acting careers and past romantic relationships with Brad Pitt. While the two iconic actors have completely different vibes, they agree about intimacy coordinators. Paltrow and Aniston both addressed the relatively new trend of employing coordinators to help actors work through sex scenes. Neither actor, who rose to fame in the 1990s, finds the involvement of another person in sex scenes particularly comfortable. They’ve both said they’d rather do without.
Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Aniston talk intimacy coordinators
Gwyneth Paltrow isn’t known for holding back when it comes to her opinions. During a recent chat with Vanity Fair, Paltrow opened up about her feelings on the job after filming several steamy scenes with Timothée Chalamet. Paltrow said having someone so deeply involved in an intimate scene could feel “stifling.” She admitted that she and Chalamet asked the coordinator on their shoot to give them some space.
Paltrow isn’t the only one who feels a bit unsure about the introduction of intimacy coordinators. Jennifer Aniston has also noted that adding an intimacy coordinator can be distracting. In December 2023, Aniston was criticized for saying that the addition of another person would have made a sex scene with Jon Hamm “more awkward.” During a chat with Variety, Aniston admitted she and Hamm turned down having an intimacy coordinator involved in a sex scene for The Morning Show.
What is their job exactly?
While Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Aniston, and several other stars have voiced disinterest in working with intimacy coordinators, other actors have opposite thoughts on the role. Over the last few years, several A-listers have praised the introduction of intimacy coordinators to movie and TV sets. So, what exactly is their job?
Simply put, coordinators work with actors to ensure that intimate scenes come together without incident. They are responsible for safety protocols, often choreograph the scene, and serve as a checkpoint for actors. According to Looper, demand for intimacy coordinators skyrocketed after the Harvey Weinstein scandal. The relative newness of the role might explain why veteran actors are less comfortable working with intimacy coordinators than actors who are relatively new to Hollywood.
