Olivia Cooke, the British actress who stars as Alicent Hightower in HBO‘s Game of Thrones spin-off series House of the Dragon, has lamented women being shamed for setting boundaries in sex scenes.
In an interview with The i Paper, Cooke said actresses “often get labelled ‘difficult’ or ‘a bitch’ for speaking up” when they are uncomfortable with intimate performances.
Cooke, who is promoting Robin Wright’s upcoming Amazon Prime Video series The Girlfriend, said the industry had changed for the better now that intimacy coordinators have become commonplace on set.
“It’s amazing to me that people had to just fudge their way through those scenes before those people existed,” the Ready Player One star said.
Cooke said good intimacy coordinators become a “voice” for women who are hesitant about filming requests, particularly when actresses are “just starting out and don’t have the vocabulary to say what they’re not comfortable with.”
She added that “showing intimacy, passion is an integral part of reflecting the human experience” and that the scenes can be filmed without actors feeling like “a chunk of yourself has been taken.”
The Girlfriend premieres on September 10. It follows Laura (Wright), a woman who seemingly has it all: a glittering career, a loving husband, and a precious son, Daniel. Her life begins to unravel when Daniel brings home Cherry (Cooke), a girlfriend who changes everything.
