One of the most hotly contested debates in the entertainment industry in recent years has been over the need (or lack thereof) for intimacy coordinators on film sets. On mainstream projects, the practice has been widely adopted on as a method of prioritizing the safety of actors performing sex scenes. But a growing chorus of detractors have voiced their belief that adding additional steps to the process ruins the spontaneity and compromises a film’s artistic integrity.
Count Michael Caine among the latter group. In a new interview with the Daily Mail to promote his role in the upcoming World War II drama “The Great Escaper,” Caine waded into the ongoing discourse over intimacy coordinators. Like many of his peers, the two-time Oscar winner questioned the value of having professionals on set to choreograph and supervise sex scenes.
“Really? Seriously? What are they? We never had that in my day,” Caine said when asked about intimacy coordinators. “Thank God I’m 90 and don’t play lovers anymore is all I can say. In my day you just did the love scene and got on with it without anyone interfering. It’s all changed.”
Caine also shared his thoughts on what he sees as the prevalence of political correctness in the entertainment industry. While he said that he is making an effort to learn from his younger co-stars, Caine feels like evolving cultural norms have limited his ability to speak freely.
“It’s dull,” he said. “Not being able to speak your mind and not being able to call anyone ‘darling.’”
While Caine has voiced disagreement with certain trends impacting the film industry, he has also suggested that his days of working on films might be winding down. In another interview this week, the actor said that he is already “sort of” retired and spoke about the physical difficulties that he faced while shooting “The Great Escaper.”
“I am bloody 90 now, and I can’t walk properly and all that,” Caine told The Telegraph. “They gave me a very good walking stick, and I was able to do scenes that needed that. I’d just do them once, and then fall over. But just one take, and that’s it. Forget it.”
