Olivia Colman Begged Sam Mendes to Cut Intimacy from 'Empire of Light'

Olivia Colman admits she begged director Sam Mendes not to make her do sex scenes in their new movie Empire of Light, but an intimacy coordinator set her mind at ease.

Colman stars in Empire of Light, written and directed by Mendes, with co-stars including Micheal Ward, Colin Firth and Toby Jones. Set in a coastal British town in the 1980s during a troubling time in U.K. history, Colman's character is a manager at a movie theater who enters into a relationship with a younger man.

Mendes admits he wrote the character of Hilary Small with Colman in mind, but after securing the role, Colman admits there were aspects of the gig that she didn't want to do.

"I was begging Sam to cut out any of the sex scenes," Colman told Newsweek. However, the presence of an old friend, and a new profession within the industry, convinced the actress to proceed with the part.

Ita O'Brien was hired as Empire of Light's intimacy coordinator. The role of an intimacy coordinator is a relatively recent development on movie and TV projects, becoming the norm only in the wake of the MeToo movement. Some have likened it to a stunt coordinator or a choreographer.

Not every movie hires intimacy coordinators, and Mendes acknowledges that he too was skeptical about the idea.

"To be honest with you, I was slightly suspicious of it and was a bit resistant to begin with," Mendes told Newsweek. "I felt like 'well, I got along I'm fine without one for all these years, why would I need one?' And then I agreed to chat to Ita O'Brien, and she was amazing."

O'Brien is one of a few full-time intimacy coordinators in the industry now, with her recent projects including Sex Education, Lady Chatterley's Lover and It's a Sin.

"For me, it just added another member of the core creative team. And it made my life incredibly, much, much easier. She was an actress herself, she knows how to talk to actors, she has practical solutions to things. She makes sure it's like a dance, everything is choreographed," Mendes said.

Mendes gained international success in the R-rated movie American Beauty in 1999 before going on to direct two Bond films.

The writer and director, whose last project before Empire of Light was the Oscar-nominated 1917, suggests he still had creative control when it came to filming intimacy.

"She would never do something unless I had specifically requested it. So it's not like someone comes in and takes control from you, if anything, they're there to help the actors move through things in a way that's relaxed for them.

"And then there's all these practical solutions. Where you put your hands or where you put your crotch, and how to do it in a way that doesn't offend or make life difficult for the other actor. And that's really amazingly helpful," Mendes added. "So I loved it and I'd happily do it again. It felt like, yeah, took away all this sort of weird edge."

Colman agreed with Mendes' assessment of O'Brien's work on Empire of Light. She felt even more at ease because the two actually had a history as well.

"[I know] Ita, we were at drama school together. So, I'd watched her career, she'd watched mine, and then it was so exciting to see," she said.

Colman was largely known in the United Kingdom as a comedic and dramatic actress on television, but roles in major projects like The Night Manager, Broadchurch and The Lobster led to her Oscar-winning turn in Yorgos Lanthimos' The Favourite.

"I would request her on every job, forever," Colman glowed. "I couldn't have done it without her because she understood me completely and turned it into a dance routine.

Empire of Light will open in theaters on December 9, 2022.