Of course, the role of an intimacy coordinator is to protect actors’ bodily comfort and safety—not the sanctity of their relationships. Lawrence explained that in her experience, however, those two things can go hand in hand. If she had any doubt that Pattinson did think she liked him, she “would probably have an intimacy coordinator,” she explained. “A lot of male actors get offended if you don’t want to fuck them, and then the punishment starts. He was not like that.”
Lawrence is far from the first actor to opt out of engaging with the role on set. Oscar winner Mikey Madison stoked some controversy last year when she said she and co-star Mark Eydelshteyn decided to forgo an intimacy coordinator while filming Anora in order to “just really streamline” the film’s sex scenes. Both Jennifer Aniston and Gwyneth Paltrow have said similar things recently, joining a group that also includes Sean Bean and Michael Caine. “We’re seasoned – we can figure this one out,” Aniston said of her and her Morning Show co-star Jon Hamm, adding that the latter was “such a gentleman.” Paltrow apparently “did not know” that intimacy coordinators were a thing in the first place when she started filming this year’s Marty Supreme, and said the idea of having one on set would have made her feel “as an artist, very stifled.”
An equally vocal coalition has praised the role of the intimacy coordinator, including artists like Allison Williams, Yorgos Lanthimos, and Kate Winslet. The profession, which recently joined SAG-AFTRA, gained another victory just this week, as it will now officially be recognized as its own credit on IMDb. (Intimacy coordinators were previously grouped under the “additional crew” section.) “When our members work on a production, it’s important that they be credited in the right way—not just because it feels good to see our names connected to our titles, but because it’s a professional resource that the community looks to, to be informed,” SAG-AFTRA president Sean Astin said in a statement, per Variety. “It’s important that IMDbPro has made this commitment to recognizing the many professionals whose creativity and dedication make film and television possible.”
