December 27, 2024, 8:56 am | Read time: 20 minutes
Nudity and sex scenes in films and series are quite common. But are they always real? We’ll tell you where they’ve been faked and where they haven’t.
There are many different ways in which screenwriters, directors, or showrunners can add that extra dose of spice to their stories. These can include particularly emotional moments as well as funny jokes or brutal action sequences. Nudity and sex scenes in films and series are also essential. They often constitute a key ingredient for a production’s success. TECHBOOK presents examples from well-known titles and reveals what was real and what was not and what the general rules are.
Overview
Nude and Sex Scenes in Films and Series in Front of and Behind the Camera
Early Years
Nudity and sex scenes often go hand in hand in films and series. However, a distinction must be made between the two. After all, naked skin can also be filmed in a non-sexual context.
However, both have a long history in the entertainment industry. Even in the days of silent films, there was nudity and acts that the public at the time interpreted as sexual acts – in particular, the eponymous “kiss” in the 1896 film of the same name. The one-minute film shows the first smack in film history, which was considered so obscene that even then, there were calls for censorship.
In 1897, French cinema pioneer Georges Méliès filmed his future wife Jehanne d’Alcy seemingly naked in After the Ball. Although D’Alcy was actually wearing skin-colored fabric, her appearance in the film, which also only lasted one minute, is considered the earliest known nude scene.
The Hays and Television Codes
Over the years, various sets of rules for film and television came into force in the USA, which differed in detail but essentially pursued the same intention of self-censorship to maintain ethical standards. These included depictions of nudity and sex, which were subject to stricter regulations. But drug use, drunkenness, and cruelty were also included.
The Motion Picture Production Code, also known as the Hays Code (after the then president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, Will H. Hays), was active in the cinema from 1934 to 1968. The film industry adhered to it until the late 1950s, before it was discontinued after years of minimal enforcement. It gave rise to the age ratings for the US film industry that are still in force today.
For television, on the other hand, there was the Code of Practices for Television Broadcasters or simply the Television Code. This was in force from 1952 to 1983. In the beginning, two-thirds of all US broadcasters were committed to complying with the guidelines. Incidentally, certain rules also apply to live TV. For example, the famous “Nipplegate” during Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake’s Super Bowl performance led to everything being broadcast on US television with a slight time delay in order to be able to intervene in such cases.
A More Permissive Present – But with Intimacy Coordinators, Please
Depending on the region, strict regulations still apply with regard to nudity and sex in films and series. Overall, however, more is possible today than ever before – and those responsible are making good use of this. But while a lot of things are now more permissive and informal in front of the camera, things are different behind the scenes.
For some years now, and especially since the scandal surrounding producer Harvey Weinstein and the #metoo movement, so-called intimacy coordinators have never been more in demand on film sets. They not only help with the choreography of love scenes but, above all, are supposed to ensure the well-being and safety of the actors involved. To this end, the influential Hollywood actors’ union SAG-AFTRA also published a set of rules for the use of intimacy coordinators in 2020.
Real or Fake Climaxes
Today, there are also more options for feigning permissiveness. The use of prostheses, fabrics, and other practical aids is traditional. Here, we are talking about fake genitals or small and inconspicuous coverings in intimate areas.
The body double is also still popular and acts as a kind of stunt double for erotic scenes. And thanks to modern computer technology, experts can also simply place the face of a star on a double.
In These Films and Series, the Stars Are Really Naked
First of all, this article makes no claim to be exhaustive because there are too many choices in history for that anyway. That’s why we’ll give you at least a few very prominent examples below in which the stars were visibly naked – without any aids.
Game of Thrones
Stream at: Wow, Sky
The adaptation of George R. R. Martin’s Song of Fire and Ice series of novels is not only one of the top-rated HBO series but also one of the best series of all time in general. The title captivated crowds and produced a number of headlines. In addition to shocking scenes of violence, the many nude and sex scenes throughout the entire runtime also ensured this.
Among others, Emilia Clarke (who played Daenerys Targaryen) later spoke on Dax Shepard’s podcast about the many moments during filming in which she had to act naked. These were particularly challenging due to her inexperience as an actress. But over time, she learned to stand up for herself and to say no to things on GoT.
Euphoria
Stream on: Wow, Sky
The two seasons of Euphoria so far have caused quite a stir and have won several awards. This includes nine Primetime Emmys for the story about high school teenagers.
And where emotions and hormones spill over in young people, the covers can sometimes fall off. Jacob Elordi and Sidney Sweeney, for example, allow deep insights. The latter said that her family supported her as far as possible in this respect. However, her father and grandfather switched off when they saw her first nude scene and have refused to watch any more ever since. Her grandmother, on the other hand, reportedly said that her granddaughter had “the best tits in Hollywood.”
Other stars were also asked to strip for Euphoria but preferred not to or wanted the scenes to be cut.
Orange Is the New Black
Stream at: Netflix
Several stars of the hit series have shown a lot of skin during the seven seasons. These include Kimiko Glenn, Natasha Lyonne, Ruby Rose, and Laura Prepon. When Rose found out that she would be naked in front of the camera, she tried to get her body in shape in just four days with rigorous training and a special juice diet, reported the Toronto Sun.
Shame
Stream at: Joyn+, Arthaus+ (Prime Video Channels), MagentaTV
In Shame, lead actor Michael Fassbender plays Brandon, a sex addict who one day receives a visit from his sister (played by Carey Mulligan). Fassbender can be seen in a short “full frontal nude shot,” i.e., stark naked from the front. In an interview with Vulture, he once said that he did this for his mother because she complained that otherwise, only women would ever be seen naked.
Co-star Mulligan can also be seen naked in the shower. For her, the nudity had to make a lot of sense for her character, as Mulligan otherwise doesn’t like to see herself naked and describes herself as quite prudish in that respect, as she revealed to the British Guardian in 2012.
The Life of Brian
Stream on: Netflix
As the titular Brian in the 1979 comedy classic, lead actor Graham Chapman not only strains the diaphragm but also the moral compass of many viewers then and now. In addition to his hilarious portrayal of the biblical story, Chapman can also be seen naked for a very brief moment. On the set in Tunisia, he stood in front of hundreds of people, half of whom were Muslim women – and for them, the sight was such a shock that they ran away screaming, according to Cinema.com. The women were strictly forbidden from seeing naked male genitalia because of their faith.
No Hard Feelings
Stream at: Netflix
In the comedy, Jennifer Lawrence, as Maddie Barker, finds herself in financial difficulties. A strange job offer comes at just the right time. She is supposed to help a shy 19-year-old with his romantic and sexual needs before he transfers to university.
In one scene, Lawrence can be seen completely naked on the beach. There is nothing sexual about this moment, instead the superstar gets to beat up a few people – for “J. Law” there was no doubt that she really wanted to shoot this herself and without a double. “It was just funny to me,” she told the industry magazine Variety.
Titanic
Stream at: Disney+
Who hasn’t seen the iconic scene in which Leonardo DiCaprio paints Kate Winslet wearing nothing more than a precious necklace around her neck? The two stars have been close friends for a long time, but before Titanic, they didn’t know each other. And to make matters worse, the scene in question was on the schedule right at the start of filming.
To quickly break the ice, Winslet resorted to a quick and simple measure. She exposed herself to her co-star quite unexpectedly and “without shame,” as he said in a making-of book, according to Fandomwire. Leo was not prepared for this but felt much more relaxed about filming afterward.
Fifty Shades of Grey
Stream on: Netflix, RTL+, Wow, Sky, MagentaTV
In the three-part sexy novel adaptation, which is mainly about BDSM, stars Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson had to show what they look like without clothes on several occasions. However, this was no problem for Johnson. As she told the Mirror, she even finds nudity beautiful. She also wanted to give her all for the role and would have felt like she was backing out if she hadn’t done it herself.
She did not reveal the whole truth. Cinematographer Seamus McGarvey told the New York Times that Johnson had to be replaced by a double for at least one scene because she has a tattoo on her bottom. “I had the pleasure of casting a non-tattooed butt.”
The Wolf of Wall Street
Stream on: Netflix, RTL+, Wow, Sky
Ten years before Barbie, Margot Robbie celebrated her big breakthrough in Martin Scorsese’s film. Alongside Leonardo DiCaprio, she showed a lot of skin in one scene in particular. That’s why she even lied to her family at first and claimed that her head had been put on a double. At least her mother had no problem with this after the premiere, as Daily Mail reported.
However, her grandparents were better off not seeing the movie. And one of her brothers didn’t take the nudity too well either, reportedly refusing to speak to Robbie for months.
Naked in Films and Series – Cheating Here
Stars and starlets don’t always want to be seen undressed in front of the camera. In such cases, all kinds of aids are used, as shown in the following examples.
Game of Thrones
Are you surprised? One of the most revealing series of the recent past also played tricks with nudity. Perhaps the most famous example of this is the legendary “Walk of Shame” that Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) has to complete at the end of the fifth season. Before the makers could even shoot the moment, they first had to appease the churches in the Croatian city of Dubrovnik – the filming location – who were opposed to the scene.
The solution was a change of location within the old town. However, as Headey did not want to be naked in front of the camera herself, Rebecca Van Cleave was cast as a double. She ran alongside during filming, and later, Headey’s head was placed on Van Cleave’s body, as Looper reported.
The White Lotus
Stream at: Wow, Sky
Both Steve Zahn and Theo James have nude scenes in which artificial penises are used. In Zahn’s case, a double trick was used – a body double even had to have an artificial member attached to him. However, this was done to save time.
Pam & Tommy
Stream at: Disney+
The Disney+ series is all about the relationship between Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee – and how the infamous sex tape came about. It goes without saying that things get hot in the process. Several hours a day were spent on make-up. Actress Lily James, in particular, had to undergo a four-hour transformation day after day, which included fake breasts. These were “great,” as James told Entertainment Weekly.
Lee actor Sebastian Stan also had to have a copy of his best piece. However, this was partly due to the fact that he also speaks with his penis in the series.
Sex Education
Stream at: Netflix
Whenever sex is in the title, sex should be in there in some form. This also applies to the Netflix hit series, in which lead actor Asa Butterfield repeatedly shows more than his character Otis would like.
The moments are usually accidents and serve the humo,r and the makers equipped Butterfield with a corresponding prosthesis. He became very familiar with it in the first season. When he returned for the second season, it was like “saying hello to an old friend”, as he said in an interview with NME.
Boogie Nights
Stream at: To rent or buy on Prime Video, Apple TV, Sky Store, Google Play and more
Mark Wahlberg played the lead role in the 1997 triple Oscar-nominated work by Paul Thomas Anderson (The Master, There Will Be Blood). The film is about a young man who unexpectedly becomes an up-and-coming star in the porn industry.
And although Wahlberg has always scored points for his excellent fitness, this particular role required an appropriately long prosthesis. The superstar even became so fond of the 30-centimeter-long artificial penis that he took it home with him after filming, as he revealed on Ellen DeGeneres’ talk show. At least he keeps it well under lock and key so that his children don’t discover it.
Dating Queen
Stream at: Joyn+
Professional wrestler John Cena has made the leap from the ring to the big screen with flying colors, thanks to films such as Fast & Furious 9, Bumblebee, The Suicide Squad, and Dating Queen. In the latter, he also has a sex scene that shows him appropriately naked.
For this, he not only had to put his own best piece in a nylon sock but was also given an alternative to simulate an erection, as he explained on Jimmy Kimmel’s show. This consisted partly of a broomstick. However, Cena’s girlfriend, Nikki Garcia, is said to have been unhappy about the scene, partly because he had not informed her about it in advance.
Real Sex in Movies
When it comes to sex in front of the camera, one thing needs to be said upfront: Real, non-simulated sexual intercourse is rather rare beyond real porn movies, and certainly not in Hollywood. This is partly due to the SAG-AFTRA requirement that actors are not allowed to have actual sex in front of the camera under any circumstances. You will, therefore, look in vain for great films and series below.
But there is more than just Hollywood, and there are some well-known examples in both US independent films and international productions that have already explored the boundaries of porn. Here are just a few titles.
Nymphomaniac
Stream at: MagentaTV, CNMA Arthouse (Prime Video Channels)
The two-part film project by Danish enfant terrible Lars von Trier kicks things off. The two Nymphomaniac films feature explicit sex in which body doubles replaced the well-known stars – their faces were then placed on the other bodies using digital technology.
But the doubles themselves actually had real sex on set, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter. This means that although there is fake nudity in Nymphomaniac, there is still real sex.
Love
Stream at: MagentaTV
The career of the Argentinean filmmaker Gaspar Noé, who lives in France, is full of provocations and taboo-breaking. For example, the nine-minute rape scene in Irréversible is one of the biggest cinema scandals of this millennium. It also involved the use of a computer-generated penis.
Fortunately, in Love, things are far less brutal and all the more sensual. Noé filmed scenes with his actors in which there was both real and fake sex – but to this day, he has not revealed which moments count as which. However, he filmed all the love scenes right at the beginning of the shoot so as not to delay anything that might cause the actors anxiety.
This was initially very unusual for lead actor Karl Glusman, as two cameras were often used at the same time, each of which required three people to operate – so at least six people were focused on his soft parts. But he eventually got used to it, as IMDb reports. For co-star Aomi Muyock, however, it is clear that she never wants to have sex in front of the camera again.
In the Realm of the Senses
Stream at: Wow, Sky
The 1976 film by Japanese director Nagisa Ôshima was shown at film festivals and received some very good reviews. It is now considered a veritable classic that still appears in lists of best films or is re-released in special editions for home cinema. All the sex scenes in the erotic drama are real, which caused quite a stir.
Among other things, people are still debating whether it really is an arthouse film or a porn movie. Bans and censorship restrictions were also imposed upon its release. For example, it was confiscated immediately after its German premiere at the Berlinale on suspicion of pornography. It was only released again by the judiciary 18 months later – then without cuts.
Ôshima himself had to answer for obscenity in a four-year trial in court in Japan when he published the screenplay, as can be seen on IMDb and elsewhere. He was later acquitted. Incidentally, casting the male lead turned out to be difficult. Not only were many candidates simply uncomfortable having real sex in front of the camera, some were also ashamed of the length of their penis. Ôshima once described it as “pathetic.”
In the Realm of the Senses is not the first non-pornographic film to feature oral sex and an erect penis. However, it is considered the first of its kind in the arthouse sector.
Baise-Moi – Rape Me
Stream on: Rent or buy on Apple TV
The title says it all, and the French thriller certainly didn’t need any body doubles. The two female leads were played by two real porn stars, Raffaëla Anderson and Karen Lancaume. Co-director Coralie Trinh Thi was also already known as a porn actress. Other supporting actors and extras also came from the industry.
Due to the real and explicit sex scenes and a lot of violence in the film, there were many bans or censorship requirements for Baise-Moi. In Australia, the police even intervened to stop screenings. In France, the age rating became a political issue because the title was initially released for 16+, but resistance quickly formed.
The French Council of State temporarily banned the film from cinemas – the first title to be banned in 28 years. However, the then Minister of Culture Catherine Tasca later intervened in the dispute and brought the film back with an 18 rating, as reported by Screen Daily.
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Fake Sex in Films
Everyone should be aware that sex in front of the camera is not real in most cases. Nevertheless, there are always titles that advertise their erotic nature in particular and provide plenty to talk about. That’s why we’ll conclude by giving you three very prominent examples that generated interest, primarily with sometimes explicit sex scenes that were not real.
365 Days
Stream at: Netflix
When the first of three 365 Days parts was released on Netflix, it immediately made headlines and caused a lot of guesswork on the internet. Are the sex scenes real or not? In any case, the staging and acting performances were so convincing that many viewers got the impression they were watching something real.
But that wasn’t actually the case. Both lead actor Michele Morrone and cinematographer Bartek Cierlica denied the rumors and confirmed that the sex was only simulated. As Just Jared wrote, Morrone said in an Instagram Live that real intercourse was simply “impossible.”
Cierlica explained to Variety how the authentic effect was achieved on film. A particularly intimate atmosphere was created with as few staff as possible on set. The camera was supposed to be invisible to the stars, who were also given enough time to act convincingly thanks to long takes.
Blue Is the Warmest Color
Stream at: CNMA Arthouse (Prime Video Channels), MagentaTV, filmfriend
In this three-hour drama about two women who fall in love with each other, there are several long and explicit sex scenes. These caused a number of shocked reactions at the world premiere in Cannes. People also wondered whether the film would have to be cut before its regular release.
However, the sex was not real, and the two leading actresses, Léa Seydoux and Adèle Exarchopoulos, wore fake vulvas instead. The filming was nevertheless exhausting – one of the sex scenes even took ten days to film. The stars also accused director Abdellatif Kechiche of harassing crew members and violating labor laws. Seydoux and Exarchopoulos are said to have been pushed to their limits.
However, history was then made at the Cannes Film Festival: for the first time ever, the Palme d’Or, and thus, the prestigious main prize went not only to the filmmaker but also to the two stars.
Fifty Shades of Grey
Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan may be naked for most of the scenes in the three films, but there was still no real sex on set. Instead, their private parts were covered for the shoot, or other aids were used.
However, the final product could have been different: The initial script draft contained more explicit sex. Screenwriter Kelly Marcel and one of the producers even aimed for an NC-17 – the highest age rating in the USA. However, the film studio Universal decided against this and had the script toned down. As the film had a budget of around 40 million US dollars, they did not want to exclude potential moviegoers.