- - Florence Pugh reveals experience with 's---' intimacy coordinator who 'just made it so weird and so awkward'

Shania RussellNovember 12, 2025 at 1:06 AM

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Florence Pugh on April 22, 2025

Florence Pugh is weighing in on the debate surrounding intimacy coordinators.

The Oscar-nominated actress is far from the first to offer her take on intimacy professionals, a newish addition to Hollywood sets meant to make actors more comfortable when performing sex scenes. Stars including Jennifer Lawrence and Mikey Madison have recently made headlines for talking about times when they've preferred to work without one. But for Pugh, her relationship to the role is still evolving.

During a recent visit to The Louis Theroux Podcast, Pugh shared that she's had both negative and positive experience working with intimacy coordinators — and explained the purpose that she believes they serve on a set.

“It’s not to get in the way, it’s not to confuse, it’s not to make things more complicated or make things more awkward,” the Thunderbolts* star explained. "It’s simply to make sure that everybody is happy with what they’re creating and also that you’re creating things that have meaning to them."

Peter Mountain/A24

Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield in 'We Live in Time'

She added, "I’ve had good ones and bad ones. I did a lot of my sex scenes before that was even a job, and I think I’m quite confident and quite happy in my skin, and I’ve always been able to make sure that I’m heard."

That being said, Pugh noted that she still encountered situations where she was asked to do something "completely inappropriate" or was directed in a way that would not have flown had an intimacy coordinator been in the mix.

"My view is changing about it as well, because I’m now having fantastic experiences with intimacy coordinators," she continued. "However, I’ve also had a s--- example where someone just made it so weird and so awkward and really wasn’t helpful and was just wanting to be a part of the set in a way that wasn’t helpful. I think it’s a job that’s still figuring itself out."

Intimacy coordinators have emerged as a crucial role in Hollywood and theater in the wake of the #MeToo movement. SAG-AFTRA, the labor union representing actors and others in the entertainment industry, describes an intimacy coordinator as "an advocate, a liaison between actors and production, and a movement coach and/or choreographer in regards to nudity and simulated sex in intimate and other hyper exposed scenes."

The organization has been working with them since 2019, and now advocates for intimacy coordinators to be hired whenever scenes involve nudity or simulated sex and that they be available upon request for other intimate and hyper-exposed scenes.

For her part, Pugh shared that intimacy coordinators have the power to influence every part of the process when it comes to intimate moments: communication surrounding the scenes, what will be shot, how it will be shot, what costumes will be involved, safe words, and more.

Karwai Tang/WireImage

Florence Pugh

"You've now got a dedicated person that is there to make sure that all of your comfort is being thought about," she pointed out.

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Pugh went on to argue that the the best intimacy coordinators are also a helpful part of the creative process.

"I’ve been able to understand better meaning now through working with great [intimacy coordinators] in sex scenes," she told Theroux. "Finding the story of what it is: What kind of sex is it? How do you touch each other? How long have you been having sex for? All of these things really matter when you are trying to build a relationship that’s been going for 10 years."

Pugh continued, "I’d never thought of it like that before, because sex scenes are so awkward for everybody on set. When I worked with a fantastic coordinator, I was like: Oh, this is what I’ve been missing, understanding the dance of intimacy, as opposed to just shooting a sex scene."

Watch Pugh share her full thoughts on collaborating with intimacy coordinators in the clip above.

on Entertainment Weekly

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