Legendary British actor regrets making controversial movie with real unsimulated oral sex scene
Sir Mark Rylance's role in the 2001 film Intimacy isn't something that he recalls very fondly.
The iconic actor, who hails from Kent, has spoken of his regret about taking part in an unsimulated oral sex scene with co-star Kerry Fox.
Given the title of the erotic film, viewers obviously expected to see the pair getting intimate onscreen - but most people probably didn't expect Fox to actually play the proverbial flute for real.
But according to Rylance, the late director Patrice Chéreau managed to talk them both into it.
Advert
However, the Oscar-winner ended up living to regret agreeing to the filmmaker's request, as he previously revealed he felt 'pressured' to do so.
In Intimacy, Rylance played the role of the lonely bartender, Jay, who hooks up with a woman whose name he doesn't know on a weekly basis.
He ends up falling for the mysterious siren played by Fox, and the almost two-hour-long flick is brimming with steamy scenes between the pair.
Intimacy won Best Film at the Berlin Film Festival in 2001 - but the triumph was somewhat clouded by controversy over the unsimulated oral sex scene.
What has Rylance said about the sex scene in Intimacy?
In hindsight, Wolf Hall star Rylance 'wishes he hadn't' taken part in the risqué scene with Fox.
"It soured me on my life two months," he told the Wall Street Journal in 2015. "It’s my mistake, but I felt [the director] 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."
Rylance, 65, also shared a similar sentiment while discussing his performance in Intimacy with The Guardian the following year.
He described shooting the film as 'the most difficult job' he has ever had, saying: "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."
What has Kerry Fox said about the sex scene in Intimacy?
Despite her co-star's qualms about the unsimulated oral sex scene, Fox has a much more positive perspective on it.
The 59-year-old actress, from New Zealand, previously explained that it had actually proved somewhat 'helpful' for her career-wise, despite the controversy it caused.
"As for Mark’s regrets about the film, I suppose that’s the point of taking these risks: you don’t really know how you’re going to respond," she told The Telegraph.
"You can’t control how it will affect your career, but if you don’t take risks you’re destined for a life of boring work. Intimacy was a censorship landmark.
"I remember Jane Campion, who had just made her film In the Cut with Meg Ryan, was really p***ed off with me that we were able to have such a frank oral sex scene.
"She said: ‘We had to use a fake one. You got ahead of me there'."
The Shallow Grave star went on to say that the moment 'definitely influenced her career a lot', in both a positive and negative way.
"In terms of the film area I like working in and my ability to go to any festival I want in the world, it’s helpful," she added. "But in TV and popular film here in Britain, I simply don’t know where I stand.
"Because people don’t know what they’re going to get if they ask me to perform for them," Fox said, while saying that it is 'not one of her regrets' despite her career going into 'a big dip immediately' after Intimacy was released.
Fox's former boyfriend, Alexander Linklater, was somewhat on the same page as Rylance, though, as he previously revealed that he became 'jealous' because of what she and her co-star were getting up to on set.
Topics: Celebrity, Film, Sex and Relationships, UK News
Olivia Burke