November 16th, 2007
16. Colin Farrell
Colin Farrell has made his career turning in solid performances in lackluster films, but he made his reputation as a sex symbol, a reputation that was reinforced when the Hollywood press shrilly announced that his full-frontal nude scene was cut from 2004's A Home At The End Of The World because audiences found it "too distracting." Hyperbole aside, Farrell has stripped down for several other nude scenes that range from expressive (with Selma Hayek in Ask The Dust) to completely unnecessary (Alexander). Choice cndb.com user comment: "He spreads his legs nice and slow to show off a low hanging sack of 2 impressive, BIG BALLS."
17. Charlotte Rampling
Though well into her 50s, Charlotte Rampling has remained willing to lose her clothes for directors with artistic intentions. (François Ozon and Laurent Cantet, for example.) In recent years, Rampling's screen nudity has been a way of showing that age hasn't diminished her characters' sexuality, but when she was younger, in films like Zardoz and The Night Porter, Rampling tended to appear nude in movies that showed the human body as something raw, to be commoditized or exploited. Choice cndb.com user comment: "[Swimming Pool] is supposed to be a mystery movie, but the biggest mystery is why anyone would imagine we want to see Charlotte Rampling full frontal at 58."
18. Angelina Jolie
Jolie worked her way up from eye-candy roles in quasi-exploitation fare like Cyborg 2 to indie films, Oscar bait, and ultimately action blockbusters—before retreating back to indie films and Oscar bait. Jolie hasn't shied away from her sexpot image—her participation in Beowulf is practically predicated on the idea that people will want to see her naked, even in CGI form—but in most of her recent work, the nudity is all about naturalism, not titillation. Choice cndb.com user comment: "[Beyond Borders] is so BORING. Anyway you see her areola briefly in a love scene with Clive Owen."
19. Kevin Bacon
Almost every contemporary American actor and actress is but a degree or two away from Kevin Bacon's lean backside, which has been on display in so many movies (Friday The 13th, Murder In The First, Hollow Man, Where The Truth Lies) that most cinephiles could pick it out in a lineup. Such is the lot of a character actor: When you're tapped to appear in as many movies as Bacon, you're called upon to do almost anything. But Bacon's shower scene in Wild Things is what earned him a place on this list, given that such instances of male full-frontal nudity in American movies are as rare as Northern spotted owl cameos. Size alone doesn't fully account for the gasps over this sizzling piece of Bacon; they were just another example of how the calculatedly provocative Wild Things, with its generous mélange of lipstick lesbians and three-ways, reacts against the puritanical nature of American culture. Choice cndb.com user comment: "It even looked engorged to me, or half-mast as they say."
20. Helena Bonham Carter
For as much time as Helena Bonham Carter has spent playing dress-up in elegant period films, she's spent just as much time unlacing those corsets and exposing her pale, pale skin. Carter came of age as an actress in the Merchant-Ivory era, when filmmakers attempted to treat literary adaptations either with restrained maturity or with punk abandon. Carter has swung both ways, but even in the staid films, she's been a punky presence, and her nude scenes have been a kind of flip-off to the establishment. Choice cndb.com user comment: "[In The Wings Of The Dove], Helena takes off all her cloth's and has sex."
21. Samantha Morton
Known for playing fragile, childlike women who find untapped reserves of strength in the face of adversity, Samantha Morton has preferred to use her nude scenes as an expression of her characters' vulnerabilities. She's been naked on film playing a murder victim and a suicide, and even her sex scenes are more matter-of-fact than erotic. She's more into finding a common humanity than putting on a titillating show. Choice cndb.com user comment: "Near the end of [Code 46], there is a sex scene where Tim Robbins take off Samantha Morton's red skirt and reveal for about 5 seconds her shaved vagina in close up. The problem is that we don't see her face in the same shot, which could probably be a body double. But since Samantha Morton already did plenty of nudity before (including full frontal), it is possible that it's really her shaved vagina."
22. Naomi Watts
After years of bit parts in American films, Australian actress Naomi Watts broke through in the early '00s with performances in Mulholland Dr. and 21 Grams that were hailed by many critics as "brave," meaning "She got naked a lot." Watts is rare among contemporary award-caliber actresses in her willingness to do nude scenes meant to be arousing, not punishing or naturalistic, though as she's gained more clout in the business, she's moved toward making herself—and her nude scenes—plainer. Choice cndb.com user comment: "In spite of dozens of precarious positions, Naomi does not even give us an up the skirt panty shot, just her long slip and a brief short one. I guess the director realized [King Kong] was starting to drag and gave us a brief left and then right conical nipples poking through a sheer dress near the end."
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