Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac may have set the internet on fire with their s-xy red carpet exchange at this year’s Venice Film Festival, but filming intim-te scenes for their HBO series Scenes From a Marriage wasn’t nearly as glamorous. In a recent interview with Vulture, Chastain said she got through filming an “embarrassing” s-x scene with the help of some liquid courage and a private concert from Isaac.
“Oscar is such a good friend. Because I was so nervous he played music and we drank a bit of bourbon. He’d say, ‘Just pretend there’s nobody else here. It’s okay.’ And there’s a song I really like, so he’d start singing in between the takes,” Chastain said.
Chastain and Isaac have been friends for over two decades, making their lived-in chemistry as a couple navigating their fractured relationships more authentic. But according to her, that doesn’t make the actual process of filming s-x scenes any less awkward.
“I know it looks s-xy, but it’s not,” Chastain said, recalling an intimacy coordinator instructing the pair to add “more up-and-down action” to their movements to make the moment look more realistic.
In the end, she took her costar’s advice to ignore everyone else in the room.
“I was like, ‘Okay, just lock eyes on him,'” she continued. “The most beautiful part of the love scenes is the love in their eyes when they’re looking at each other. And he helped create that.”
