Allison Williams admitted that “it would have been so great” to work with an intimacy coordinator on her show Girls’ most explicit sex scenes.
The Lena Dunham-created HBO comedy series was known for its no-holds-barred depictions of sex, including a season 4 episode where Marnie (Williams) had a secret tryst with bandmate Desi (Ebon Moss-Bachrach).
Williams suggested on the “Not Skinny But Not Fat” podcast on Wednesday, June 25, that having an intimacy coordinator on the Girls set would have helped her to feel much more comfortable while she and Moss-Bachrach simulated ass-to-mouth sex acts.
“I have this picture of Lena and [executive producer Jenni Konner] acting out the moment where Desi was going down on me — eating my ass — and I have a picture of them where I think it’s Jenni is leaning over a windowsill and Lena is leaning behind her, like, smiling, being like, ‘This is what we picture,’” Williams remembered. “And I was like, ‘Great!’ But they were busy. That should have been someone else’s job.”
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At the time, the presence of intimacy coordinators was far less common on Hollywood sets. In the wake of the #MeToo movement, many more Hollywood productions now hire these professionals to ensure that filming of sex scenes is comfortable for the actors involved.
“It would have been great [on Girls], because we had so many sex scenes to prep and work through,” Williams explained. “It would have been so helpful to have someone who’s, like, [the] department head of sex scenes.”
Williams mentioned that she’s worked with intimacy coordinators since wrapping on Girls and has found their support invaluable when prepping for potentially-awkward moments on set.
“By the time everyone shows up to do it, none of [the details are] being litigated on that day,” Williams noted. “You already know what you’re wearing for your nude covering, what the rules are, if your costar feels comfortable with a certain type of kissing or not. So you’re all just ready to go, and it’s so nice.”
Williams echoed similar sentiments from Girls creator and star Dunham, who called intimacy coordinators a “wonderful thing” after working with one on her 2022 movie Catherine Called Birdy. (The medieval comedy starred The Last of Us’ Bella Ramsey as a 14-year-old noble maiden desperate to break off her engagement to a lecherous older man.)
“I mean, I would have loved to have it on Girls,” she told Metro at the time. “When you’re the director and the actor at the same time, and the writer, you’re trying to hit all those marks, and also make sure everyone has what they need, it’s just too much for one person.”
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Dunham went on, “I’m just so happy that we’re reaching a time where sets in general are a more carefully monitored thing. People I adore and I’m protective of like — Bella knowing that if they do have an issue on set, that there’s lots of different people they can speak to to make sure that it’s remedied and they don’t feel like they have to suffer in silence.”
Veteran intimacy coordinator Casey Hudecki – who has worked on Sex/Life, The Boys and What We Do in the Shadows – exclusively told Us Weekly in March 2023 that actors can feel “free to have a lot more fun and play with each other” while filming sex scenes when they trust that someone is looking out for their best interests. Hudecki added that her job involved “a lot of talking” to ensure that the actors she works with “feel safe and feel free” within the context of the scene they are filming.
Girls originally aired on HBO between 2012 and 2017. All six seasons are available to stream now on HBO Max.
