Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson are starring together in the upcoming Lynne Ramsay drama, Die, My Love. And in the few public appearances they’ve made together to promote the film, it’s become immediately apparent that they have a great time together.
The film is based on the 2017 novel of the same name by Ariana Harwicz, and follows a woman named Grace (Jennifer) who moves from the city to the middle of nowhere and develops psychosis after having a baby with her husband, Jackson (Rob).
Die, My Love premiered at Cannes last week and is already receiving widespread praise, and, along with plenty of chatter about Jen’s performance, there’s been a lot of discussion about the film’s intimate scenes. According to Deadline’s review, the opening 10 minutes of the film cover Grace and Jackson’s first year living in their isolated home in the country, as “they make violent love, have a child, and celebrate his first birthday.”
Now, during an interview with Brut, Jennifer and Robert revealed that despite having “basically a whole day of sex scenes on the first day” of shooting together, there was no awkwardness between them. “It was very easy and there was kind of instant trust,” said Jennifer, who was around four to five months pregnant during the shoot. “I mean, when you’re doing the kind of scenes that we have to be doing, you know, you don’t always get to pick your costars, and you don’t always feel comfortable.”
Jen said that her and Rob’s dynamic was aided by the fact that Lynne had them take dance classes together before shooting began. “You can’t get more embarrassing,” the Oscar-winner said, cringing at the mention of dancing. “Like, it was so embarrassing, and that helped a lot. And then on our first day of shooting, we were naked and attacking each other like tigers.”
For his part, Rob agreed that the dance lessons were pretty humiliating and that it actually wound up being quite a “good idea” to shoot the sex scenes on the first day. “You think you can’t get more embarrassed, and then they’re like, ‘Now do it naked!’” he joked, talking about the tiger-mimicking scene. “If we didn’t like each other, then it becomes increasingly more awkward. Taking direction when you’re naked as well, it’s genuinely quite funny.”
In post-#MeToo Hollywood, there’s been a huge increase in the use of intimacy coordinators on movie and TV sets. And when asked about having a professional on hand to oversee their sex scenes, both Jennifer and Rob had positive things to say. “I felt safe the whole time. Rob was very appropriate. I felt super safe… Almost too safe,” Jen said, as Rob joked that he was “very unthreatening” when he was “just pretending to be a cat.”
Aside from choreographing sex scenes and helping actors feel “secure,” Rob also said that intimacy coordinators can be helpful to have on set to navigate awkward conversations about the “technicalities” of being naked on camera. “I think directors sometimes are a little bit scared to say, like, ‘Your body looks weird in this angle,’ and if you have someone else whose specific job is to say like, ‘If you just move a little bit in this direction, you’re gonna like it more,’” The Batman star said. “It’s actually very nice to have someone who’s not embarrassed…not embarrassed to say it.”
Not only does this film sound amazing (I’m sensing a second Oscar for J.Law…), but I am absolutely obsessed with these two together. We’re in for a ride with this press tour, folks. You can watch the full Brut interview clip here.
