‘House of the Dragon’ Intimacy Coordinater Reacts to Sean Bean’s Comments
Miriam Lucia, an intimacy coordinator for HBO‘s House Of The Dragon had some things to say after Sean Bean complained about the role of intimacy coordinators in Hollywood.
Speaking to the U.K.’s Times Magazine, Bean said, “I think the natural way lovers behave would be ruined by someone bringing it right down to a technical exercise. It would inhibit me more because it’s drawing attention to things.”
Lucia reacted to the comments this week, politely correcting the Game of Thrones actor for his comments. “I just think he is a man of a certain age, who has been in this industry for a very long time, and he doesn’t have an experience of the other side,” she told Deadline. “Or maybe he’s had a bad experience of working with an intimacy coordinator. All I would say is that in my experience so far, I don’t think it gets in the way of the creative process.”
She continued, “I think it helps to enable the creative process, because I think once you’ve worked out what the actors are comfortable with in terms of touch and consent, and what the movements are going to be, then you add the emotion to it. And then you find the freedom because you’re not scrambling and fumbling and trying to find it there and then in the moment.”
One member of the House Of The Dragon cast was grateful for the help of an intimacy coordinator, and that is Emily Carey, who portrays young Alicent Hightower. Carey was just 17 years old when she was cast in the role and she told Newsweek she felt “scared” to perform in intimate scenes, particularly given the age difference with the then 47-year-old Considine (Paddy Considine, who plays King Viserys.)
Carey told the outlet, “We have an intimacy coordinator who was amazing. Again, still being 17, the first scene that I read from the show was my sex scene and my intimacy scenes, that includes the scene where I’m bathing the king—anything that felt intimate was considered an intimacy scene, which I thought was great.”
