He said this.
Michael Douglas is fed up with intimacy co-ordinators on movie sets.
The fabled star recently gave an interview to the Radio Times, which was published in The Telegraph, during which he laid out the differences about how love scenes were filmed in decades gone past and in the post-Me Too era. In this newer period, so-called “intimacy coordinators” are a regular feature on sets throughout the film industry.
The presence of intimacy coordinators, he said, seems to him like a way for executives to seize more creative control from filmmakers. He is grateful that he is too old to have to worry about dealing with them, as his advanced age makes it unlikely that he will land a role that requires such scenes. While acknowledging that such scenes have the potential for uncomfortable faus pas, if not outright harassment, he explained that, in his experience, it was his responsibility as a man, who is larger and more potentially threatening, to make sure the woman, who is smaller and more potentially vulnerable, is comfortable every step of the way. Actors should talk through each step of such a scene together, and work out what should happen once the cameras start rolling.
Intimacy coordinators, he said, were not necessary during his heydey, because actors at the time valued their reputations. If they overstepped their bounds, they would be labeled by their co-stars, and word would quickly spread that they were not to be trusted with such material. He has, he said, spoken to actresses with whom he shared intimate moments on screen in the past, and they have laughed among themselves about the ridiculous notion of having an intimacy coordinator in the mix and muddling up their work rhythm.
Douglas has previously compared the coordination and planning necessary to film a love scene with that which is necessary to film a fight scene. High levels of choreography, solid mutual expectations, issues of timing, and issues of safety are all paramount.