Emma Thompson Says Intimacy Coordinators Help Actors Feel Safe: 'You Can't Just Let It Flow'

During an appearance on the Fitzy & Wippa radio show, as detailed by The Hollywood Reporter, the actress was asked specifically about Bean's comments because she worked with an intimacy coordinator for her latest project.

Thompson stars as a middle-aged woman who hires a male escort to help her achieve her first-ever orgasm and expand her sexuality in "Leo Grande," now streaming on Hulu.

She explained in no uncertain terms that having fake sex as an actor on camera is "not a comfortable situation, full stop."

"I don’t know [if] you were speaking to somebody who found it distracting, but another conversation you might find [is] that people go, 'It made me comfortable. It made me feel safe. It made me feel as though I was able to do this work,'" Thompson pushed back against Bean's sentiment, even as she seemed to indicate she was unfamiliar with them.

She said she believes that "intimacy coordinators are fantastically important" and this idea that it "spoils the spontaneity" of a simulated sexual encounter doesn't hold up for her.

"No, you can’t just let it flow," she said. "The crew is -- [you’re] not on your own in a hotel room. You’re being hounded by a bunch of blokes … carrying things."

Bean's comments came while speaking with The Sunday Times about how it might have been different had he and Joely Richardson worked with an intimacy coordinator in the '90s while fliming the erotically charged "Lady Chatterly's Lover" for the BBC.

"I should imagine it slows down the thrust of it. Ha, not the thrust, that's the wrong word ... it would spoil the spontaneity," he answered. "It would inhibit me more because it's drawing attention to things. Somebody saying, 'Do this, put your hand there, while you touch his thing.' I think the natural way lovers behave would be ruined by someone bringing it right down to a technical exercise."

Bean got pushback from a few other women in Hollywood, including his "Snowpiercer" co-star Lena Hall. He'd indicated that "she was up for anything" because of her "musical cabaret background."

Hall said that's not at all accurate and that for her it depends on her scene partner. While she said she was completely comfortable around Bean in that scene, she noted that "if there is any part of me that is feeling weird, gross, over exposed etc… I will either challenge the necessity of the scene or I’ll want an [intimacy coordinator]."

"It should only be technical. It's like a stunt. Our job as actors is to make it not look technical. Nobody wants an impromptu grope," wrote Jameela Jamil in a comment to Variety's post.

"West Side Story" star Rachel Zegler said it's about establishing "an environment of safety for actors" while "Never Have I Ever" star Sendhil Ramamurthy added, "To each his own I suppose, but I have found intimacy coordinators really helpful."

Matt Smith, meanwhile, recently spoke about working with intimacy coordinators on the upcoming "Game of Thrones" prequel series, "House of the Dragon." While he bemoaned the sheer number of sex scenes on the show, he said they did have a coordinator on set and "that all felt quite good and safe and stuff."