How Intimacy Coordinators Helped with Sex Scenes In Megan Fox’s Killer Robot Film (Exclusive)

The movie sees her reuniting with Till Death director SK Dale, and that rapport between the actress and director was vital when it came to filming some of the more intimate scenes in the film.

After a dad played by 365 Days hunk Michele Morrone turns to Fox’s synthetic Alice for assistance after his wife becomes sick, she slowly develops an obsession with the family. Things get so twisted, she eventually pursues Morrone sexually — and, and one point, blindfolds him while changing her voice to mimic his wife’s, so he can imagine it’s her he’s getting down with.

The scene in question is teased in the trailer, below:

“Till Death, it’s such a different performance to this. So that excited me already. It was like, okay, we’re not doing the same thing again. We’re doing something completely different,” Dale said of collaborating with Fox again. “I really felt that she, with the intimate scenes and everything, having built that trust from the first film with her, I thought, well, that’s a really great way to kind of build a safe environment for us to explore these intimate scenes and try and shoot something that felt unique.”

“There are certain aspects to these intimate scenes that are kind of different from others, where we’re intercutting with different actors back and forth,” he said, referring to moments Fox and Zima swap places atop Morrone as his imagination takes hold. “So we needed them to be on set together and kind of watching to make sure we were imitating what was being seen and everything.”

Dale said the shoot utilized intimacy coordinators, who are often brought onto film and TV sets to ensure the actors’ comfort when it comes to sex scenes. For the director, it was a welcome experience and one that made him really think about how these moments served the greater picture.

“I had actually treated [the sex scene] like an action sequence and storyboarded it all out. And the intimacy coordinators and the actors really loved that because they get a very strong idea of, okay, this is what we want, this is how it’s gonna happen,” he explained. “But what I really liked about the intimacy coordinators within the prep of it all was they would ask questions that were story driven. Like, ‘Okay, how aggressive is this intimate scene? How, how essential is it? Is there kissing? How, if there is kissing, is it kind of pashing [Australian slang for a passionate kiss] or just pecking?”

He explained that after laying it all out, the coordinators take it to the actors, who are able to raise any concerns they may have, so that by the time everyone gets to set, “everyone felt really safe.” Dale added that he also pushed the scene involving all three actors until later in the schedule, so they “could all build a rapport” with one another before getting down and dirty.

“For me, that is also a vital point, is making sure that it’s not day one, you’re throwing them in the deep end with a scene like this,” he added.

Another reason Dale hoped to work with Fox again for this project was to get her to tap into some of that blood thirst she showed in Jennifer’s Body.

“There’s something about it that was kind of clicking in the back of my head, I was thinking about Jennifer’s Body and the way her character arc is in that, I felt there was a lot of similarities here,” he told TooFab. “And I thought her fan base would really love to kind of see her become that badass killer again. So it was exciting to kind of see that happening on a monitor.”

Explaining how Fox approached her robot alter ego in the film, Dale said she came into the project looking at the character as “physically being a ballerina” — someone “slow but precise” with excellent posture and an all-around put-together look.

As for her voice, he didn’t want it to be too robotic, thinking the intimate scenes would “completely fall apart” if she was full-android.

“So it was trying to slowly add a little bit of emotion as we were kind of approaching those scenes and playing into that. So it just felt a little bit more humanistic as we got into that sequence,” he explained.

Overall, Dale said he was interested in the film because, when reading the script, it came across as an erotic thriller that transforms into a sci-fi horror flick as it goes on. It was those twists and turns and the melding of the two genres that really spoke to him.

“To me that was really exciting because it allowed us to focus on the story on a much more intimate level and seeing this world through the lens of this family. So for me, that was really exciting kind of way into this story,” he added.

Watch out full interview with Dale above. Subservience is on digital and on demand now.