Toni Collette said intimacy coordinators make her ‘more anxious’ (Picture: REX/Shutterstock)
Hereditary star Toni Collette has revealed she has previously asked for intimacy coordinators to not be present while filming.
The Australian actress, 50, has enjoyed a three-decade Hollywood career, first shooting to fame in comedy-drama Muriel’s Wedding in 1994.
Since then, she’s starred in films including The Sixth Sense, which scored her an Oscars nomination, Little Miss Sunshine, About A Boy and Netflix’s mega-hit, Knives Out.
But while acting icons including Emma Thompson have branded intimacy coordinators ‘essential’, Toni, who recently divorced her husband of nearly 20 years, has said they make her ‘anxious.’
She explained: ‘I think it’s only been a couple of times where [intimacy coordinators] been brought in, and I have very much trusted and felt at ease with the people I was working with.
‘It just felt like those people who were brought in to make me feel more at ease were actually making me feel more anxious. They weren’t helping, so I asked them to leave,’ she continued to The Times.
She said she has asked intimacy coordinators to leave the set (Picture: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock)
Toni said the intimacy coordinators weren’t helping (Picture: Getty Images)
Sean Bean recently came under fire questioning the need for intimacy coordinators on film and TV sets, saying they can ‘spoil the spontaneity’ of sex scenes and restrict actors.
‘Somebody saying, “Do this, put your hand there, while you touch his thing”…I think the natural way lovers behave would be ruined by someone bringing it right down to a technical exercise,’ he told The Times.
Similarly, Ian McKellen was criticised by Love Actually actress Emma for saying intimacy coordinators spoil the ‘purity’ of theatre.
Emma Thompson defended intimacy coordinators for being ‘essential’ (Picture: Getty Images)
‘Why can’t it be the director who does that? Why has it got to be somebody who’s been trained in how to do it?’ he said on BBC Radio 4’s The Poet Laureate Has Gone to His Shed programme and podcast.
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The role of intimacy coordinators was pioneered by director Ita O’Brien who, in 2017, introduced the Intimacy On-Set Guidelines, now used by major film and TV companies.
Major members of the acting industry, including Gillian Anderson, Rachel Weisz, and Bridgerton’s Rege-Jean Page, have supported the presence of intimacy coordinators on set.
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The role has been supported by many A-listers, including Emma Thompson.