Kristen Stewart is sharing her thoughts on sex scenes in Hollywood films and why she wanted to bring something different to her new movie, Love Lies Bleeding.
The actress told NBC News, in an interview published online Wednesday, that she feels most intimate scenes in films are unrealistic and look almost mechanical.
“The run-of-the-mill, like, just-go-for-it simulated sex thing is so rote, and it’s like actors do have this default thing where, like, ‘OK we’re supposed to make out and have sex now,’” Stewart said. “That’s just not how people have sex, and I’m so sick of seeing it.”
The Twilight alum explained that with Rose Glass’ Love Lies Bleeding, where she plays Lou opposite Katy O’Brian’s Jackie, she wanted to displace intimacy that was “literal instead of faux.”
“Really nailing the details and talking about the physical experience more so than even seeing it, like verbalizing it, talking to each other, sharing space, like having it not be cut up into a ton of different shots, it felt like… a really beautiful thing to deliver an experience that was, like, literal instead of faux,” Stewart said.
O’Brian added, “If anyone takes anything from this movie, it’s to ask your partner what they like. You don’t see that in a movie.”
Elsewhere in the interview, O’Brian also noted that they worked with an intimacy coordinator during filming and that she was also excited to finally “get to do something real, that felt more real.”
The steamy queer thriller follows reclusive gym manager Lou, who falls for Jackie, an ambitious bodybuilder passing through town en route to a competition in Las Vegas. But their connection leads to violence as they get wrapped up in Lou’s criminal family.
Stewart added she was drawn to the project because its depiction of the dark side of love caught her attention.
“There’s no fixed definition for love,” the Love Me actress said. “It’s such a means to justify any decision that one might make recklessly.”
Love Lies Bleeding hits theaters on March 8.
