Legendary British actor regrets making controversial movie with unsimulated oral sex scene

A legendary actor has regrets over a controversial movie that featured an unsimulated oral sex scene.

With all the tricks of the trade, the body doubles, the makeup, the editing, it feels rare nowadays that these kinds of scenes are still shot.

However, plenty of actors have dabbled in the world of unsimulated scenes, like Robert Pattinson in Little Ashes and Chloë Sevigny in The Brown Bunny.

And among them is the British legend, Sir Mark Rylance.

You might know him best for The Other Boleyn Girl, The BFG or Bridge of Spies. Or perhaps for his appearances in Dunkirk or as Thomas Cromwell in Wolf Hall.

But in his list of credits is a film he somewhat regrets, particularly following the controversy for its unsimulated sex scene.

It's been over two decades since the film was released (Studio Canal)

In 2001, Rylance starred as Jay, a bartender, in Intimacy. He ends up having weekly sex with Claire (Kerry Fox), a woman he doesn’t know and ends up developing feelings for her.

It might have won Best Film at the Berlin Film Festival that year, but Rylance himself has said he wishes he hadn't made it.

Speaking to the Wall Street Journal about his critically lauded appearance in Wolf Hall in 2015, the actor also opened up about Intimacy.

The WSJ reported that Rylance felt he had been taken advantage of by the film's director, the late Patrice Chéreau, who died in 2013.

He said: "It soured me on my life for two months. It’s my mistake, but I felt Patrice put undue pressure on me on set to do that.

"And at that point I didn’t have the confidence as a film actor to say no. Now I think a lot of actors that people say are difficult are actually just being sensible."

Sir Mark Rylance said he felt 'pressured' during the scene (Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images)

The celebrated actor went on to give his view on Intimacy again the following year in a web chat for The Guardian.

Replying to a question from a fan who wanted to know Rylance's view on Intimacy and why he chose to do the movie, the actor wrote: "Intimacy was the most difficult job I've ever had.

"Hanif Kureishi's work and Patrice Chéreau's words convinced me it was a very true and vital story about the difficulties people face finding intimacy in a big city like London.

"I know Hanif Kureishi's writing couldn't have been more intimate and revealing, but I found the making of the film and the subsequent publicity and personal attacks very, very painful. And I wish I hadn't made it."

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