As steamy as Sex/Life appears, the making of every sensual moment has a pretty anti-climatic start: with an intimacy coordinator.
Off-screen sex-pert Casey Hudecki approaches sex scenes like stunts. As a former actor and fight coordinator, Hudecki is more than well-trained in "simulated sex," as she exclusively told E! News on July 16. The hit Netflix series, based on a real-life memoir, follows mom Billie (Sarah Shahi) as she discovers her sensuality again in the midst of a love triangle with her husband Cooper (Mike Vogel) and ex-boyfriend Brad (Adam Demos).
And yes, the NSFW scenes—including a very memorable shower moment featuring Demos—were written into the "unique" Sex/Life script by creator Stacy Rukeyser. "Stacy did a really good job putting it all on the page," intimacy expert Hudecki explained. "She was very specific about what she wanted for the sex scenes because they were very story-driven. There was a reason behind all of them, there was a goal for each one."
The concept of "two kinds of versions of sex" in the steamy series is what drew Hudecki in. "There's the sort of nostalgic fantasy sex that Billie has with Brad, and then there's just the harsh light of day, complex sex life that she has with her husband," she continued. "And that's a story that you don't always get to tell."
From incorporating sex toys to getting it in in between car seats, and sometimes losing an erection along the way, there was a lot of...meat for Hudecki to work with. "Those are unique stories so I was excited to tell them," she added.
So, how did the certified coordinator make getting it on look so real?
"Obviously they're not really having sex—sorry," Hudecki said with a laugh. "It's camera tricks like stunts, so my job was to help create that illusion and to make sure the actors just had time and space to assess their own boundaries, how to build that chemistry and comfort level between them, and then be specific about how we're creating the illusion of sex."
Hudecki even had to pad star Shahi for lustful moments involving stairs or cars so that the actress was "physically unscathed" after filming. "We're doing it for hours sometimes. It can be very hard on the body," she noted. The jokes just write themselves!
Sensual flairs like eye contact, deep breaths and slight touches are added only after the choreography is in place to "re-infuse it with that life again" to make it seem more intimate.
Despite sex scenes being "not as sexy, generally, as they appear" IRL, Hudecki does have a favorite.
"I really liked the coital alignment technique," she admitted. "I thought that was really interesting because, first of all, we were all like, 'What is this?!' And Stacy is like, 'Oh my god, it's the best thing ever.' It's a tricky thing to capture on-camera because it's quite subtle, so it was all in the performance of it, and I think they both did such a great job. And then to have that cut straight into Billie and Cooper doing it badly, or it being unsuccessful, is just heartbreaking. Just to have that juxtaposition is just really effective."
For those who thought Billie had just about as much sex as a woman could take in season one, Hudecki is ready to knock your socks off if there is a season two. "I hope Sex/Life is coming back," she teased. "And we get to go even further."
Sex/Life is available to stream on Netflix.