The Game of Thrones showrunners made no secret of how tightly studied and choreographed the series’ many battle sequences were, but the same apparently can’t be said for the show’s sex scenes!
According to Gemma Whelan, who played Yara Greyjoy on HBO’s racy fantasy epic, many of the show’s intimate scenes came with little direction for the actors — even when said scenes were complex and intense.
While promoting her new ITV police drama The Tower, Whelan told The Guardian that shooting the sex scenes in Game of Thrones was a bit difficult, as the actors had to do so without the aid of an intimacy director to help choreograph or set the scene. She recalled:
“They used to just say, ‘When we shout action, go for it!’, and it could be a sort of frenzied mess.”
Yikes! Talk about uncomfortable…
The actress went on to reveal that the lack of direction and consent forced the actors to direct themselves, sharing:
“There was a scene in a brothel with a woman and she was so exposed that we talked together about where the camera would be and what she was happy with. A director might say, ‘Bit of boob biting, then slap her bum and go!,’ but I’d always talk it through with the other actor.”
Apparently, Whalen also had to take matters into her own hands (so to speak…) while filming the much-discussed scene in season two with Alfie Allen, who played her on-screen brother Theon.
Related: First Teaser For GoT Prequel Series House Of The Dragon Is Here
As fans will recall, the two characters have a sexually-charged moment while riding a horse together before Theon realizes who Yara really is. In her new interview, Whalen explained that rehearsing the uncomfortable moment was even more awkward because of the apparent lack of direction.
She explained:
“Alfie was very much, ‘Is this okay? How are we going to make this work?’ With intimacy directors, it’s choreography – you move there, I move there, and permission and consent is given before you start. It is a step in the right direction.”
Gemma previously opened up about the infamous horse-riding scene during an appearance on The Graham Norton Show in 2017, telling the host that it was actually her audition scene for the series — and that Yara was the handsy one when it was originally written. She said at the time:
“I had to do it on a chair, looking straight ahead, very very dramatically with this one casting director in the room and this very ashamed cameraman.”
Hopefully, HBO knows better than to pull something like this now!
[Image via HBO Max.]
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