In the world of cinema, directors try out several things to perfect a particular scene. Many would think performing an action sequence would be the most difficult. However, if several actors are to be believed, it would be the love scenes that are the toughest to perform on a set, with so many people around. But certain intimate scenes can be performed with the leads not even touching each other.
John Turturro’s romantic comedy Romance & Cigarettes, which debuted in 2005, is the ideal illustration of this. The movie had a s*x scene between James Gandolfini and Kate Winslet. Nevertheless, the director opted for a different method to film the same.
John Turturro on how the s*x scene between Kate Winslet and James Gandolfini was filmed
Today, anything can be achieved on screen with the help of CGI. However, some directors still believe in old-school techniques for filming a desired scene. In the case of John Turturro, he presented a somewhat antiquated method of filming a s*xual scene with Kate Winslet and Gandolfini in the movie Romance & Cigarettes.
This decision was taken by the director due to Winslet’s ankle injury. In an interview on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the director recalled that the scene was just not working with Winslet trying to straddle James Gandolfini. Further, the actors were feeling too self-conscious and hesitant to perform the intimate scenes.
So, he had them record their parts separately to defuse the tension and ensure that they performed the scenes flawlessly. For this, Gandolfini had to simulate that Winslet was on top of him. On the other hand, the Titanic actress had to bounce on an exercise ball. To perfect this in the scene, the ball was meticulously edited out.
In another interview with The New School, Turturro recalled that he wanted the audience to have a real-time experience. And for this, he had a wonderful idea in mind. He stated:
So I took Kate’s wig, and as James was having s*x, I threw Kate’s wig in front of the camera.
He recalled what happened on the shooting day and mentioned that Winslet bounced so hard on the exercise ball that she fell down towards the end of the sequence. Turturro demonstrated what certain camera angles and antiquated methods could highlight in a scene.
On the other hand, Viola Davis recounted how she hurt her back while acting out an intimate scene in How to Get Away with Murder with Billy Brown.
Viola Davis was slammed into a wall during a s*x scene with Billy Brown
Sometimes actors take their commitment to their roles a bit too far and have to deal with the painful aftereffects. A perfect illustration for this would be Viola Davis, who, in order to perfectly act out a scene, got slammed into a wall and got a major back injury.
The incident happened while she was filming a love scene with Billy Brown in How to Get Away with Murder. On Jimmy Kimmel Live (via News Week), she said:
Well, we really went for it. I said, ‘Listen, I’m always playing these maids, I always gotta gain 40 pounds for a role.’ I said, ‘I wanna be sexy. I’m pulling out all the stops.’ So, I went for it…and threw my back out.
The s*x sequence was suggested by the scene director, who instructed Brown to slam her against the wall. Further, the actress added that while the scene sounds seductive and sexy, the reality was quite different. Due to the injury, she had to take some time off from shooting.
However, given that she was working under Shondaland, she had to quickly recover and get back on set. In the interview, Kimmel jokingly asked her how she explained the injury to her husband, Julius Tennon. In response, she answered that she had to conceal the injuries very well so that he wouldn’t find out.
You can rent Romance & Cigarettes on Apple TV and can stream How to Get Away with Murder on Netflix
