Actors Who Refuse vs. Embrace Sex Scenes
1.
NO TO NUDITY/SEX SCENES: Megan Fox has turned down roles because they have graphic sex scenes that she wouldn’t want her family to see. She said, “There are some good projects I’ve read that are with talented people, talented directors, but the things the women are required to do in the movie are things I can’t have my sons ever know or see.”
2.
EMBRACED NUDITY/SEX SCENES: Talking about his sex scenes from Bridesmaids, Jon Hamm said filming those will always be awkward, but it’s the most fun when he can embrace all of that weirdness. He told Playboy, “It’s like running in the rain. There’s a certain point when you go, ‘Fuck it, I’m already wet. I’m not going to get any less wet, so I might as well just enjoy how this feels.'”
3.
NO TO NUDITY/SEX SCENES: Rebel Wilson specifically adds a strict “no nudity” clause in her contracts when she films comedies.
4.
EMBRACED NUDITY/SEX SCENES: Viola Davis told Tom Hanks in Variety’s Actors on Actors series, that she has no issue with filming nude sex scenes, as long as production allows them to be as realistic as possible: “I’m not a woman who’s a size two. If I’m in a sex scene, I want to play the sex scene. I want to say, ‘This is why I’m attracted to you; it’s gotten to this point; this is what my body looks like.'”
5.
NO TO NUDITY/SEX SCENES: Keira Knightley decided that she would no longer film nude scenes for male directors after she became a mother in 2015. She explained, “I don’t have an absolute ban, but I kind of do with men. It’s partly vanity, and also, it’s the male gaze.”
6.
EMBRACED NUDITY/SEX SCENES: Cooper Koch appeared naked in Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story and confirmed he doesn’t wear a prosthetic penis in the series. He even said that he was “shocked” at the public response to the nudity, he said, “I’m an actor, and I’m talking about doing a nude scene in a TV show, and, yes, the TV show also has to do with sexual abuse. Like, it’s just sort of an unfortunate pairing that happened. I was comfortable doing it, and…we all have bodies and body parts, and it’s just sort of, like, normal for me.”
7.
NO TO NUDITY/SEX SCENES: Anna Kendrick refuses to do nude scenes at all. She actually used a body double when her character had to appear naked in Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates.
8.
EMBRACED NUDITY/SEX SCENES: Alison Brie did a nude scene in the movie Somebody I Used To Know where her character streaks through a golf course. “I find it to be quite hilarious. I’m a very comfortable naked person,” she said. “I love streaking. It’s so fun. It really makes me laugh. I always think it makes other people laugh. It’s just one of my favorite things.”
9.
NO TO NUDITY/SEX SCENES: Sarah Jessica Parker does not appear in sex scenes where she has to be naked, and is the only main Sex and the City actor that hasn’t filmed nude. She even has a “no nudity” clause in her contracts.
10.
EMBRACED NUDITY/SEX SCENES: Shailene Woodley’s first ever sex scene was opposite Miles Teller for the movie The Spectacular Now. She revealed that scene was actually her favorite one from the movie because of how “safe” and “comfortable” she felt while filming it.
11.
NO TO NUDITY/SEX SCENES: Samuel L. Jackson has appeared in over 150 movies and has avoided showing full-frontal nudity in all of them. He said if he ever had to, he’d probably ask for a “dick double.”
12.
EMBRACED NUDITY/SEX SCENES: Sydney Sweeney has appeared topless in several episodes of Euphoria. She said she feels there’s “a stigma against actresses who get naked on-screen.” She explained, “When a guy has a sex scene or shows his body, he still wins awards and gets praise. But the moment a girl does it, it’s completely different.” She added, “I’m very proud of my work in Euphoria. I thought it was a great performance. But no one talks about it because I got naked.”
13.
NO TO NUDITY/SEX SCENES: Mahershala Ali revealed that he would’ve turned down a role in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button if director David Fincher hadn’t agreed to rethink a sex scene between him and his costar Taraji P. Henson. As a Muslim, he explained that he wanted the scene changed because he was “just trying to hold a space of respect for [his] religion.”
14.
EMBRACED NUDITY/SEX SCENES: Jason Segel did a full-frontal scene in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and he thought it was “hilarious.” He told Vulture, “I was actually not very uncomfortable doing it. I really felt free.”
15.
NO TO NUDITY/SEX SCENES: Jessica Alba also has a nudity clause written into her contracts because she doesn’t want her family to see her naked onscreen.
16.
EMBRACED NUDITY/SEX SCENES: Halle Berry appeared naked in Monster’s Ball and said that she agreed to the nudity because her costar, Billy Bob Thornton, was doing it too. “It was four days before the end of shooting, so we knew who these people were, and we just went for it,” she said. “We both agreed to be uninhibited with our bodies, so it wasn’t just the woman who was being exposed, and we just said, ‘Let’s service these characters.’ We only had to do it one time, which is good, because you don’t really want to have to go there that many times…”
17.
NO TO NUDITY/SEX SCENES: Finally, Rachel Bilson doesn’t like to film nude and almost lost out on her role in The Last Kiss because she refused to get naked.