Actor Jake Gyllenhaal has revealed he had to use the famous 'pillow technique' when filming sex scenes with Jennifer Aniston... And if you've never heard of that method, I'm pretty sure you can guess what it entails.
Gyllenhaal, 40, starred alongside Aniston, 52, in the 2002 film The Good Girl, in which they played two retail co-workers having an affair.
Speaking to Howard Stern on his SiriusXM radio show, Gyllenhaal spoke about what it was like filming intimate scenes with a woman he'd once had a huge 'crush' on.
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Stern said to the star: "You have even said, 'Gee, I had such a crush on Jennifer for years, and now all of a sudden I'm in these romantic scenes with her'.
"It was torture for you, right?!"
Gyllenhaal replied: "Oh yeah, it was torture. Yes, it was. But it was also not torture, I mean, come on. It was a mix of both."
Stern asked if Gyllenhaal had to warn Aniston of any 'protrusion', making his guest laugh.
Moving the topic on slightly, Gyllenhaal said: "Weirdly, love scenes are awkward because there are maybe 30, 50 people watching it.
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"Maybe if you have a closed set, it's less. That doesn't turn me on. Most of the time, it's oddly mechanical, right?
"Also, it's a dance. You're choreographing for a camera [...] It's one of those things - it's like a fight scene, you've got to choreograph those things, and I always have tried."
He explained it had been Aniston's idea to use the 'pillow technique', in which an item is placed in between actors during intimate scenes, continuing: "I do remember a pillow. Yeah, the pillow technique was used.
"That was just preemptive, and used - generally, always - when actually in a horizontal place in that movie.
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"Everything else is whatever it was. I remember those two characters did a lot of making out on like, boxes in a back room."
Gyllenhaal added: "I think that was actually a Jennifer suggestion. I think she was actually very kind to suggest it before we began.
"She was like, 'I'm putting a pillow here'. That was it, that was all she said."
In the same interview, Gyllenhaal also spoke about another difficult filming experience, recalling how his nerves got the better of him while shooting Far From Home and had to seek help from co-star Tom Holland.
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"I was freaking out," he said.
"It was a scene with [Samuel L.] Jackson, Tom ... There were a number of actors in that scene.
"And I remember not being able to remember my lines. I was the wooden board. And they were like, 'Whoa'.
"And I went up to Tom Holland and was like, 'Dude, help me out'. He's like, 'It's all good, man. Just relax'.
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"It was like he was me in so many situations. And I finally did. I just put a lot of pressure on [myself] because I love that world."
Featured Image Credit: Fox Searchlight PicturesTopics: Entertainment, TV and Film, Celebrity, Jennifer Aniston