Shonda Rhimes' new Regency drama Bridgerton is one of the sexiest shows on Netflix. However, while those steamy scenes may seem full of impulsive passion, they actually took a ton of planning to get right.
The show's intimacy coordinator Lizzy Talbot broke down those moments in a new interview with The Times and shared how she made the actors feel comfortable on set.
Talbot, who worked in fight direction, said that initially sex scenes had "no protocols" in place.
"Everyone was relying on the good graces of their scene partner and the good intentions of their director, but that's the safety net, and you can see for so many people that just wasn't enough," she shared of how she came to work as an intimacy coordinator.
Now, Talbot explained, she works to create an environment actors are comfortable with before the cameras start rolling. "We need to work out consent boundaries," she said. "It might be that we are working with containers, like, ‘You can put your hand from the top of my neck to the top of my lower back or anywhere in between. You've got freedom to do what you want in that area, but it doesn't go anywhere else.'"
Talbot explained, "When you're treating the intimacy scenes in the same way that you are treating the stunt rehearsals, as you are treating the dance rehearsals, it takes the awkwardness and the fear out of them because it's just another scene at that point."
Bridgerton's showrunner Chris Van Dusen previously told E! News that the show's now infamous sex scenes were heavily choreographed.
"We had many many conversations about exactly what we were doing," he explained. "It was all so that the cast would feel comfortable, and we all we really left it in their hands to take the scenes for as far as they wanted to take them. Those scenes were heavily choreographed, much like an action sequence, like 'Your hand goes here, your leg goes there.' They were all really, really rehearsed."
Of course, the whole point is that they don't look rehearsed—which is something star Phoebe Dynevor told E! News she was particularly pleased with.
"I feel really proud of those scenes honestly," Dynevor shared. "We worked really hard at making them feel real."
And really, really hot.