For quite some time, Hollywood has distanced itself from the intense and unrestrained sex scenes that once symbolized cinematic passion.

However, a fresh wave of high-profile celebrities, including Jennifer Lawrence, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Jennifer Aniston, is challenging this trend. These stars are opting to bypass intimacy coordinators in an effort to restore the genuine spark of on-screen chemistry.

Data reveals that since the early 2000s, the presence of sexually explicit scenes in blockbuster films has diminished by almost 40 percent.

This decline can be attributed to several factors, including changing comfort levels among actors, evolving audience preferences, and the increasing use of intimacy coordinators who meticulously plan physical interactions on set.

Although the practice of using these coordinators gained traction following the #MeToo movement, a number of seasoned actors argue that this approach can sometimes feel too clinical and restrictive.

Now, some of the industry’s most recognizable names are loudly rebelling.

Earlier this year, Gwyneth Paltrow explained that intimacy coordinators make her feel suppressed on set. 

While speaking about filming her steamy scenes with Timothée Chalamet for the upcoming A24 film Marty Supreme, Gwyneth Paltrow, 52, told Vanity Fair that she asked the on-set intimacy coordinator to ‘step a little bit back.’

‘I was like, ‘Girl, I’m from the era where you get naked, you get in bed, the camera’s on,” she explained, with a laugh.

The Goop founder added that she and Chalamet, 29, had no discomfort performing their scenes. 

‘We said, ‘I think we’re good. You can step a little bit back.”

‘I don’t know how it is for kids who are starting out,’ she continued. ‘But if someone is like, ‘OK, and then he’s going to put his hand here,’ … I would feel, as an artist, very stifled by that.’

Friends alum Jennifer Aniston, 56, echoed a similar sentiment while promoting The Morning Show, in which she filmed intimate scenes with Jon Hamm.

‘Jon was such a gentleman, always, I mean every move, every cut, ‘You OK?” she recalled to Variety.

When producers offered to bring in an intimacy coordinator, Aniston admitted she didn’t even know what the term meant, joking that she came from the ‘olden days.’

‘They said, ‘Where someone asks you if you’re OK,’ and I’m like, ‘Please, this is awkward enough!” she said. ‘We’re seasoned – we can figure this one out.’

With director Mimi Leder on set, Aniston said she ‘never felt uncomfortable’ and credited her long friendship with Hamm for the sense of safety.

Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence, 35, also revealed she skipped an intimacy coordinator while shooting sex scenes with Robert Pattinson for the upcoming psychological drama Die My Love.

‘We did not have [an intimacy coordinator], or maybe we did but we didn’t really,’ she said on the Las Culturistas podcast. ‘I felt really safe with Rob. He is not pervy and very in love with [his partner] Suki Waterhouse.’

Lawrence said the comfort level between them eliminated any need for extra supervision. 

‘We were just talking about our kids and relationships. There was never any weird, like, ‘Does he think I like him?”

She added pointedly, ‘If there was a little bit of that, I would probably have an intimacy coordinator. A lot of male actors get offended if you don’t want to f*** them, and then the punishment starts. He was not like that.’

Earlier this week, Florence Pugh admitted to having mixed experiences with intimacy coordinators.

‘I did a lot of my sex scenes before that was even a job. I’m quite confident, I’m quite happy in my skin, I’ve always been able to make sure that I’m heard,’ she said on the Louis Theroux podcast.

‘That being said, even though I know that I believe that, and even though I know that I felt that at the time, there are plenty of things that I remember where it was just completely inappropriate to have asked me to do that, to have directed me in that way.

‘But my view is changing about it as well, because I’m now having fantastic experiences with intimacy coordinators.’

Despite now working well with intimacy coordinators, Florence opened up about working with a ‘s***’ one who ‘wasn’t helpful’ and made everything ‘awkward.’

She continued: ‘However, that being said, I’ve also had a s*** example where someone just made it so weird and so awkward and really wasn’t helpful and kind of was just like wanting to be a part of the set in a way that wasn’t helpful, and I think it’s a job that’s still figuring itself out.

‘I will say that I’ve been able to understand better meaning through working with great ones in sex scenes, finding the story of what it is, what kind of sex is it, how do you touch each other, how long have you been having sex for? This all matters and I had never thought of it before as it is so awkward.

‘Everybody’s just kind of working away to chip away at the scene. And I think when I worked with a fantastic coordinator, I was like, oh this is what I’ve been missing, understanding the dance of intimacy as opposed to just shooting a sex scene.

‘There are good ones and bad ones, and it’s through the good ones that I have learned how effective it can really be.’

Discussing how filming sex scenes has developed and changed, Florence explained how everything is now discussed weeks before filming, from ‘safe words and areas you don’t want to be touched’ so stars feel more ‘comfortable’.

She said: ‘Now what happens, conversation about the sex scenes happen weeks before and it becomes not embarrassing anymore. You used to just turn up to set and talk about it on the day in that moment and it would be awkward.

‘The communication before happens a while before, you have safe words, safe areas, areas you don’t want to be touched, whereas before it wasn’t discussed.

‘It’s there [intimacy coordinators] job to have someone in charge of coverage, before costume would just get you like a thong that didn’t fit you but now there is a person there thinking about your comfort.’

Working with intimacy coordinators first became standard practice after #MeToo, creating a system meant to safeguard consent and eliminate the power imbalances that long plagued Hollywood. 

This year, IMDb officially recognized the role as an official professional credit, alongside choreography and craft services, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Yet the job remains misunderstood, and, at times, controversial. 

Despite its success in preventing exploitation, several high-profile actors, including Mikey Madison and Michael Douglas, have expressed skepticism over whether it should be mandatory.

Madison, who starred in Sean Baker’s Anora, said she and co-star Mark Eydelshteyn opted to go without one, explaining, ‘My character is a sex worker, and I had seen Sean’s films and know his dedication to authenticity. I was ready for it. As an actress, I approached it as a job.’

Douglas, meanwhile, said he believes the onus lies with the male actor to ensure professionalism.

‘In my experience, you take responsibility as the man to make sure the woman is comfortable, you talk it through,’ he told reporters. ‘It’s very slow but looks like it’s happening organically – which is hopefully what good acting looks like.’

Sean Bean, who played Ned Stark on Game of Thrones, previously landed in hot water for claiming intimacy coordinators ‘spoil the spontaneity’ of intimate scenes. 

‘I think the natural way lovers behave would be ruined by someone bringing it right down to a technical exercise,’ he said in 2022. ‘It would inhibit me more because it’s drawing attention to things.’ 

In response to his remarks, Rachel Zegler star tweeted that ‘intimacy coordinators establish an environment of safety for actors’ and she was ‘extremely grateful for the one’ she had on West Side Story. 

‘They showed grace to a newcomer like myself + educated those around me who’ve had years of experience,’ she explained. ‘Spontaneity in intimate scenes can be unsafe. wake up.’ 

Jameela Jamil also expressed feeling appalled by Bean’s comment as she insisted on-screen sex scenes ‘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,’ she wrote on X.

While younger generations, particularly Gen Z, often express a preference for fewer sex scenes and more emotional storytelling, a growing number of established stars are nostalgic for the kind of intimacy that once defined films like Unfaithful, Body Heat, or Eyes Wide Shut.

For them, the pendulum may have swung too far toward restraint.

As Paltrow put it, the new rules can make creativity feel mechanical.

‘I understand why it’s necessary,’ she said. ‘But for me, as someone who’s been doing this for decades, it can take away from the natural rhythm between two performers.’

To help clarify the growing divide, award-winning experiential director and veteran intimacy coordinator Yehuda Duenyas weighed in on the debate to The Daily Mail.

Duenyas, whose collaborations have earned an Emmy, eight Cannes Lions, eleven Clios and an OBIE award, claimed the actors’ frustrations are real, but misdirected.

‘If an intimacy coordinator works in a rigid or intrusive way, the process can feel stifled. That criticism points to an implementation issue, not an existential flaw in the role.’

He argues that when done correctly, the work should feel invisible and collaborative, not mechanical.

‘A skilled intimacy coordinator who works as a genuine collaborator brings a finesse to make the process seamless and to elevate the artistry of the scene,’ he explained.

While some veteran actors mourn the spontaneity of the pre-#MeToo era, Duenyas argues that structure and freedom are not opposites.

‘If the actor is worth their salt, spontaneous chemistry absolutely coexists with structure. Good choreography does not kill instinct. It gives the actors a safe container to pour their instincts into.’

Comparing intimacy work to stunts, he notes no one improvises dangerous physical sequences, they’re planned, rehearsed, and executed precisely.

Sex scenes, he says, deserve the same care.

‘Safety and authenticity are not opposites. The idea that you lose creative freedom when you protect consent comes from a misunderstanding of how craft works.’

When asked how younger performers view intimacy coordination differently than older generations of actors, Duenyas acknowledged that part of the tension may be cultural.

‘Younger performers grew up in a culture that talks openly about consent, boundaries, identity, and the full spectrum of human sexuality,’ he said. ‘They expect structure, transparency, and support.’

Meanwhile, ‘older generations often came from a culture of secrecy around intimate scenes where actors were expected to simply handle it. That creates very different instincts. The shift is cultural, not generational in value.’ 

This, he says, explains why actors like Paltrow or Aniston may feel over-managed, while Gen Z stars feel empowered.

Duenyas doesn’t deny that some coordinators, like the one Pugh described, mishandle the process.

‘Any department can feel obstructive when communication is uneven or when personalities clash. Film sets are complex ecosystems and intimacy work sits at the intersection of acting, direction, physical movement, emotional safety, and production pressure.’

But when done well, the coordinator’s presence supports everyone on set: ‘Everything I do is designed to remove confusion, remove fear, and remove the invisible tension that can interrupt an honest performance.’

After #MeToo, the priority was harm prevention. But Duenyas says intimacy work has now matured into an artistic discipline.

‘We are no longer only safeguarding consent. We are helping build richer characters, more grounded relationship dynamics, and scenes that reveal something essential about the human condition. The work is shifting from compliance to artistry.’

Through his SAG-AFTRA–accredited training organization CINTIMA, he teaches coordinators movement, choreography, trauma literacy, sexuality psychology, filmmaking, and the administrative skills needed to function as a department head.

‘Intimacy coordinators are trained professionals, not ad hoc HR reps, and our work elevates the artistry of a production.’ 

Duenyas went on to drive home his point that true spontaneity and structure can, and must, coexist. 

Despite the backlash from some high-profile stars, others, especially those who have worked extensively with expert coordinators, strongly defend the role.

Oscar-winner Olivia Colman has repeatedly praised intimacy coordinators, particularly celebrated coach Ita O’Brien.

‘I would request her on every job, forever. I couldn’t have done it without her because she understood me completely and turned it into a dance routine,’ she said on Amy Poehler’s The Good Hang Podcast.

‘Thank God for intimacy coordinators… She told me when I was about to orgasm – “Imagine the sun is hitting your face. That was great.”‘

BAFTA winner Michaela Coel even dedicated her 2021 award for I May Destroy You to O’Brien, before explaining why to the audience. 

‘Thank you for your existence in our industry… for creating boundaries so we can make work about exploitation without being exploited in the process,’ she said.

While speaking to The Daily Mail, O’Brien spoke about the emotional toll actors faced before the role became standard on sets. 

Without an intimacy coordinator, she said actors were, often, too afraid to speak up, out of fear of being labeled difficult.    

O’Brien went on to detail how the Intimacy On Set Guidelines, which she created, transformed culture and the workplace.

She also emphasized that without guidelines, actors come in ‘nervous’, awkward and have suffered unwanted touching.

While stars like Paltrow, Aniston and Lawrence advocate for a lighter touch, experts and acclaimed actresses like Duenyas and O’Brien insist intimacy coordination is essential, not only for protection, but for better storytelling.

Duenyas believes the future depends on raising standards, not abandoning the role.

‘When intimacy is shaped with sensitivity and cinematic intelligence, it feels natural and alive. The audience feels connection rather than choreography.’

In other words, not fewer intimacy coordinators, just better ones.