Warning: This text contains spoilers for "House of the Dragon", including the current fourth episode. If you haven't seen all the episodes yet and would rather be surprised, you should stop reading here.
The fourth episode of the series "House of the Dragon" had it all: the young princess Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) flees at night, annoyed by the unsuccessful search for a suitable husband for her, disguised from the palace and makes with her uncle Daemon ( Matt Smith) Unsafe town. Daemon leads her to a brothel where dozens of people are having an orgy. There uncle and niece also get very close, it even almost comes to incest.
The previous series "Game of Thrones" was already known for its explicit sex scenes. Apparently, "House of The Dragon" doesn't intend to be inferior to that either. "In this world, sex is used as a weapon - and as a craft and currency," says Ryan Condal, one of two new writers. But how are such intimate scenes filmed? As is now customary with many productions, the creators of the series have hired an intimacy coach who prepares the actors for the hot sequences.
Rhaenyra actress Milly Alcock told the New York Post that she and Daemon actor Matt Smith rehearsed the scene with intimacy coordinator Miriam Lucia, so it wasn't funny: "We hid that months ago." She and Smith are "kind of friends," said the 22-year-old Australian: "That made it quite comfortable."
On the set of "House of The Dragon", Miriam Lucia is not only responsible for taking away the actors' nervousness during nude scenes or helping them with practical acting questions. She should also make sure that all the rules are followed and that there are no sexual assaults – especially when it comes to such drastic scenes as in the "Game of Thrones" prequel. Since the
Lucia usually prepares by reading the script and discussing the relevant scenes with the director. Then the work with the actors begins. "I speak to each actor individually so they know what's expected of them on set. When they want to get a part, actors often just say 'yeah, that's okay' when it comes to sex scenes. Sometimes they don't fully understand that this is really going to happen, so it's important to be open about it," Lucia wrote in a Newsweek post.
If the actors have questions or concerns, she communicates with the director again, otherwise she rehearses the scenes with the actors and also has a say in positions, for example. Lucia worked on the set of "House of the Dragon" for almost a year. She especially praised Matt Smith: "He was very, very respectful of the actors, who may have never acted in scenes like this."
Actress Emily Carey highlighted the importance of the intimacy coordinator's role during filming. In her role as Lady Alicent, she also has a sex scene with the much older King Viserys (Paddy Considine) in the fourth episode. Carey was 17 when she was cast in the role, Considine is 30 years older. Of the moment she first read the intimate scenes in the script, she told Newsweek, "It scared me because I hadn't met Paddy at the time. I just saw a 47-year-old man and me. I was a little concerned." Intimacy coordinator Lucia gave her enormous support in realizing the scenes. "She was a huge help in rehearsals and on set. It was a lot easier than I imagined."
And yet there were one or two surprises on the set for the actors, reported Milly Alcock. The scene in the brothel where she and Smith are surrounded by a crowd of copulating bodies was "pretty shocking": "Clare Kilner, our director, made sure we didn't see the brothel before we shot," said the actress. "So we first came into the brothel and she walked us through the rooms with all these other bodies. I was like, 'This is kind of weird and stupid.'"
Quellen: "New York Post" / "Newsweek" (1) / "Newsweek" (2)
