Dunkirk actor Mark Rylance once confessed he didn’t have the ‘confidence to say no’ after being tasked with performing an unsimulated sex act during a movie.
Rylance, 64, is a multi-hyphenate actor who has excelled in cinema, television, and live theatre.
A two-time Laurence Olivier Award winner and three-time Tony Award recipient, the star made his feature film debut in 1987’s Hearts of Fire and has never let up.
Over the years, the Kent-born performer has portrayed some iconic characters, but it’s his role as a London-based bartender-cum-musician named Jay that we want to discuss.
In 2001’s Intimacy, Rylance played the down-and-out man who abandoned his family after his wife seemingly fell out of love with him.
To quench his loneliness, he meets up with a woman once a week for a series of intense sexual rendezvous.
At first, Jay’s relationship with the lady – who is played by Kerry Fox – is purely physical, but he later forms an emotional attachment with her.
The protagonist eventually learns the character with whom he has been having weekly trysts is an actor named Claire.
She has a husband and a son, causing Jay to feel envious of her family unit after leaving his own.
Mark Rylance and Kerry Fox starred in Intimacy (Pathé)
The flick, which premiered at 2001’s Sundance Film Festival, is based on the book of the same name by Hanif Kureishi, and contains an unsimulated fellatio scene by Fox on Rylance.
Oh and if that wasn’t enough already, Patrice Chéreau’s divisive project also features a sex scene which left viewers ‘in little doubt that penetration has occurred’, according to researcher Tanya Krzywinska’s analysis.
Understandably, Intimacy proved controversial at the time of its release, and today, it has a middling score of 66 percent on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer.
And while some viewers have praised the film as ‘imaginative’ and ‘interesting’, unfortunately, Rylance doesn’t look back at the movie with the same vigor.
In a 2016 Q&A session, the Bones and All favorite responded to a fan who asked why he chose to do the film.
The RADA graduate replied: “Intimacy was the most difficult job I’ve ever had. Hanif Kureishi’s work and Patrice Chereau’s words convinced me it was a very true and vital story about the difficulties people face finding intimacy in a big city like London.
“I know Hanif Kureishi’s writing couldn’t have been more intimate and revealing, but I found the making of the film and the subsequent publicity and personal attacks very, very painful. And I wish I hadn’t made it.”
The star said he didn’t have the ‘confidence’ to reject the intimate scene (Pathé)
As for the oral sex scene in particular, Rylance recalled feeling pressure to perform for the camera.
“It soured me on my life two months,” he said, adding: “At that point I didn’t have the confidence as a film actor to say no. Now, I think a lot of actors that people say are difficult are actually just being sensible.”
Fox’s own partner was among those who shared their thoughts on the film, as he admitted he was a ‘jealous guy’.
“It wasn’t going to be a trick,” he wrote for The Guardian. “If Kerry accepted the role, the sex in Intimacy would be far more demanding than the normal perfunctory erotic interlude of most mainstream movies. To some indefinable degree, this sex would be real.”
If you’re intrigued to see it for yourself, well, then you can stream Intimacy on Prime Video now