Why Olivia Munn Felt ‘Nervous’ While Filming Sex Scenes With Jon Hamm

Olivia Munn has narrated her experience filming intimate scenes with Jon Hamm in her new series, “Your Friends and Neighbors.”

The breast cancer survivor explained that her visible scars made her “insecure” and “really nervous” about filming intimate moments with Hamm before crediting a set intimacy coordinator and soul-searching for her progress.

Olivia Munn recalled Jon Hamm telling her to “bite” him “really hard” during one of such scenes, adding that the actor is a “very tough guy.”

Munn opened up about a vulnerable moment she felt while filming intimate scenes with Hamm in “Your Friends and Neighbors.”

While promoting the new Apple TV+ drama series, Munn noted that her visible cancer scars made her “insecure” and “really nervous” about filming intimate scenes with the actor.

The former “Newsroom” star was diagnosed with luminal B breast cancer in April 2023 after undergoing a course of genetic tests. At first, she tested negative for the BRCA gene, a mutation commonly linked to breast cancer, and had a clear mammogram.

However, she later underwent an MRI, an ultrasound, and a biopsy, which discovered growths in her right breast after her doctor calculated her breast cancer risk assessment score and determined she had a 37% lifetime risk of having breast cancer.

“I was really nervous about doing any sex scenes because I have a lot of scars,” she told the Los Angeles Times in an interview on Friday, April 11. “Scars that can be seen in clothing and scars that you wouldn’t know unless I was completely nude.”

One such intimate moment was a scene in which Hamm told Munn to “bite” him “really hard.”

Dressed to kill in a shimmering silver Roland Mouret dress for the premiere of the series, Munn told the publication that “there’s a lot of sex scenes” in the show and revealed that there was “a lot of dialogue” about getting them just right before filming.

“My character wants something more from Jon’s character, but the only thing she’s getting from him at this point is this sexual relationship….so it’s really important that we really feel how much she’s leaning on this and trying to really connect with him through these moments,” she said.

She went on to explain that there’s “a lot of choreography” and a “lot of discussion” that goes into making sex scenes look real before going on to recount a scene where Hamm told her to “bite” him in the bedroom.

“I was nervous but he just kept saying, ‘It’s okay. Bite really hard.’ And then I did. And he’s a pretty tough guy,” Munn recalled, adding, “He’s a very tough guy.”

According to People Magazine, Munn tapped into her past struggles to play her role in the all-new series.

The “X-Men: Apocalypse” actress stars as Sam, a divorcee who is having a secret affair with recently fired and disgraced hedge fund manager Andrew “Coop” Cooper, played by Hamm.

At the show’s premiere on April 8, she told the news outlet that she could step into her role because she knows what it’s like to face difficult moments.

“I’ve been in places where I feel like everything I love has been stripped away from me,” said Munn, who has had five surgeries since her cancer diagnosis, including a lymph node dissection, a double mastectomy, and a hysterectomy. “And I feel like I’m about to lose everything that I’ve worked hard for.”

She continued, “And I feel like life is unfair and feel like the earth is falling out from beneath me and never being able to catch your breath and just hoping that by waking up and walking forward that something’s going to click or something’s going to figure itself out for you.”

Elsewhere in her chat with the news outlet, the 44-year-old actress admitted that she “wasn’t feeling like that” while filming but noted that she’s had “many times in my life felt like I was at the bottom of the world.”

She also weighed in on how her Sam character differs from all others in the series, saying, “My character comes from a blue-collar background and has married into this, and she’s really ambitious. She’s a mother of two. Being in this world is everything that she’s always wanted and it represents safety and stability.”

However, she explained that viewers would meet the character “right at the precipice of her losing everything.”

“And what I love is the show opens up where you basically see myself and Jon Hamm’s character in a moment where our lives are crumbling,” she added. “And the thing that I think that she has that everyone else in this world is a real determination to keep their place in their social circles, their social hierarchy at any cost.”

Munn has been very open about her cancer battle and recently praised her husband, John Mulaney, for his support throughout the difficult period, noting he made it easier to deal with.

“It would’ve felt like climbing an iceberg without him,” she told People. “I don’t think he had a moment to himself between being an incredibly hands-on father and going to and from the hospital— taking Malcolm to the park, putting him to nap, driving to Cedars-Sinai, hanging out with me, going home, putting Malcolm to bed, coming back to me. And he did it all happily.”

Munn added, “It’s the best except when you’re just out of surgery, and it hurts to move or even laugh. I made him leave the room a few times because he would make me laugh too hard.”