Emma Thompson Defends Use of On-Set Intimacy Coordinators for Sex Scenes In Response to Sir Ian McKellen’s Doubts

Emma Thompson is calling out Ian McKellen, following his comments about having intimacy coordinators on film sets.

Conversations about the new movie professionals have been in the news quite a lot since the Me Too movement began to take shape over the past few years.

Over the past year, many have argued whether they are really needed on set, and Emma has been one of the most vocal in support in having the coordinators on movie and television sets.

Just recently, she argued against Ian‘s own comments of if they were absolutely needed.

Keep reading to find out more…

Ian appeared on BBC Radio 4 recently, where he shared his opinion on the matter.

“I can imagine there are situations when you have to be careful and people find it difficult to be intimate, and therefore a coordinator is just the thing,” he noted, via The Daily Mail. “But 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?”

After hearing his comments, Emma responded as she was featured to Andrew Marr on LBC.

“I think if you’re a young woman on a set, which is largely peopled by men, the crew will be 90 per cent men and the women won’t be on the set with you, because generally speaking we do not have parity on any level on film sets, it’s all men,” she shared.

Emma went on, “That’s a very uncomfortable position for a young woman who’s starting in the industry, but it is absolutely essential that there is someone there to protect them. Absolutely essential. You cannot imagine what people went through in some of those big series when they first started the streaming series.”

“They were just told when they walked on set, now this is what we’ve got to do… And that’s absolutely outrageous,” she added. “So, it’s all very well, if you’re a bloke it’s a different kind of thing.”