9 Actors On Why They Refuse To Film Nude Or Do Sex Scenes Vs. 8 Actors Who Opened Up About Their Experiences

    Megan Fox once said that she's turned down roles with graphic sex scenes because she wouldn't want her family to see them. She said, "There are some good projects I've read that are with talented people, talented directors, but the things the women are required to do in the movie are things I can't have my sons ever know or see."

    Lauren Garafano
    by Lauren Garafano

    BuzzFeed Staff

    1. NO TO NUDITY/SEX SCENES: Megan Fox has turned down roles because they have graphic sex scenes that she wouldn't want her family to see. She said, "There are some good projects I've read that are with talented people, talented directors, but the things the women are required to do in the movie are things I can't have my sons ever know or see."

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    She turned down an HBO role where she was supposed to play a sex worker, and said, "Those are things that are degrading to the woman who's playing the character."

    2. EMBRACED NUDITY/SEX SCENES: Talking about his sex scenes from Bridesmaids, Jon Hamm said filming those will always be awkward, but it's the most fun when he can embrace all of that weirdness. He told Playboy, "It's like running in the rain. There's a certain point when you go, 'Fuck it, I'm already wet. I'm not going to get any less wet, so I might as well just enjoy how this feels.'"

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    Universal

    He continued, "I mean, sure, there's awkwardness about being in a weird flesh-colored thong, bouncing on top of an actress. I am not a small human being. I weigh at least 200 pounds and I'm six-foot-two. And [Kristen] Wiig is a twig; she's a skinny little thing. It's weird and uncomfortable at first, but then all the awkwardness melts away and you think, All right, we're doing this, so let's have fun with it. You know what I mean? You're in that moment and it's happening and it's not going to get any better, so you might as well enjoy it."

    3. NO TO NUDITY/SEX SCENES: Rebel Wilson specifically adds a strict "no nudity" clause in her contracts when she films comedies.

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    Rebel told Marie Claire UK that producers wanted full-frontal nudity while she was filming The Brothers Grimsby. "We write in the contract, specifically, 'No nudity.' They got in another girl — this larger burlesque dancer from South Africa — to be a nude double. And they got her to do all this stuff. Sacha [Baron Cohen, the movie's writer and star] would go, 'See, she looks good.' I'm like, 'I'm not doing it. I don't care what you say.'"

    When asked if she'd consider appearing nude in a more serious role, she added, "You want to know that the people [behind the camera] have a certain sensibility and decency. And a lot of times in comedy, they're not those people."

    4. EMBRACED NUDITY/SEX SCENES: Viola Davis told Tom Hanks in Variety's Actors on Actors series, that she has no issue with filming nude sex scenes, as long as production allows them to be as realistic as possible: "I'm not a woman who's a size two. If I'm in a sex scene, I want to play the sex scene. I want to say, 'This is why I'm attracted to you; it's gotten to this point; this is what my body looks like.'"

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    ABC

    She also saw these scenes as an opportunity for better representation of Black women on TV. She explained, "I saw it as an opportunity way bigger than doing good work — I saw it as an opportunity for a dark-skinned actress of 50 to be in a role that's sexualized, not sexy. There's a difference between sexualized and sexy."

    5. NO TO NUDITY/SEX SCENES: Keira Knightley decided that she would no longer film nude scenes for male directors after she became a mother in 2015. She explained, "I don’t have an absolute ban, but I kind of do with men. It’s partly vanity, and also, it’s the male gaze."

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    She added that she understands that sex sometimes drives the story along, but she would be more comfortable if someone else, like a body double, were filming the scene. "You can use somebody else. Because I’m too vain, and the body has had two children now, and I’d just rather not stand in front of a group of men naked."

    6. EMBRACED NUDITY/SEX SCENES: Cooper Koch appeared naked in Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story and confirmed he doesn't wear a prosthetic penis in the series. He even said that he was "shocked" at the public response to the nudity, he said, "I'm an actor, and I'm talking about doing a nude scene in a TV show, and, yes, the TV show also has to do with sexual abuse. Like, it's just sort of an unfortunate pairing that happened. I was comfortable doing it, and...we all have bodies and body parts, and it's just sort of, like, normal for me."

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    Netflix

    7. NO TO NUDITY/SEX SCENES: Anna Kendrick refuses to do nude scenes at all. She actually used a body double when her character had to appear naked in Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates.

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    She told the Telegraph, "I will not do that. ... I am not criticizing people who do [nude scenes], but I plan to keep doing what I am doing and hope it keeps going good."

    8. EMBRACED NUDITY/SEX SCENES: Alison Brie did a nude scene in the movie Somebody I Used To Know where her character streaks through a golf course. "I find it to be quite hilarious. I'm a very comfortable naked person," she said. "I love streaking. It's so fun. It really makes me laugh. I always think it makes other people laugh. It's just one of my favorite things."

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    Prime Video

    Alison added that her husband, Dave Franco, who directed and co-wrote the film, doesn't share the same love for public nudity. "I've spent years talking Dave into accepting my comfort with nudity," she said. "He's comfortable with me being nude at our home, but in public, he's more averse to it."  

    9. NO TO NUDITY/SEX SCENES: Sarah Jessica Parker does not appear in sex scenes where she has to be naked, and is the only main Sex and the City actor that hasn't filmed nude. She even has a "no nudity" clause in her contracts.

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    She told the Hollywood Reporter, "I don’t have any judgment about anyone who chooses to do it. I think it's fantastic that people feel comfortable doing it. It's not some kind of principled position or religious or ideological on my part."

    10. EMBRACED NUDITY/SEX SCENES: Shailene Woodley's first ever sex scene was opposite Miles Teller for the movie The Spectacular Now. She revealed that scene was actually her favorite one from the movie because of how "safe" and "comfortable" she felt while filming it.

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    A24

    She said, "It was both of our first times having an onscreen [sex] scene. It was such a safe, comfortable environment and I am so grateful that it was with Miles because he was such a gentleman and made me feel very comfortable and nurtured. And I think I made him feel very comfortable and nurtured. It was really sweet. We wanted it to just feel natural."

    11. NO TO NUDITY/SEX SCENES: Samuel L. Jackson has appeared in over 150 movies and has avoided showing full-frontal nudity in all of them. He said if he ever had to, he'd probably ask for a "dick double."

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    When Howard Stern asked if Samuel felt like his dick wasn't big enough, Samuel replied, "I don't know if it's formidable enough. My aura's so big, I don't know if my dick is big enough to fill my aura."

    12. EMBRACED NUDITY/SEX SCENES: Sydney Sweeney has appeared topless in several episodes of Euphoria. She said she feels there's “a stigma against actresses who get naked on-screen.” She explained, “When a guy has a sex scene or shows his body, he still wins awards and gets praise. But the moment a girl does it, it’s completely different.” She added, "I’m very proud of my work in Euphoria. I thought it was a great performance. But no one talks about it because I got naked."

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    HBO

    Sydney has also spoken extremely highly of Euphoria's creator for listening to and respecting her feelings toward nudity: “Sam [Levinson] is amazing. There are moments where Cassie was supposed to be shirtless and I would tell Sam, ‘I don’t really think that’s necessary here.’ He was like, ‘OK, we don’t need it.’ I’ve never felt like Sam has pushed it on me or was trying to get a nude scene into an HBO show. When I didn’t want to do it, he didn’t make me.”

    13. NO TO NUDITY/SEX SCENES: Mahershala Ali revealed that he would've turned down a role in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button if director David Fincher hadn't agreed to rethink a sex scene between him and his costar Taraji P. Henson. As a Muslim, he explained that he wanted the scene changed because he was "just trying to hold a space of respect for [his] religion."

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    He added that when his agent told him he booked the part, he told her, "If there’s a sex scene, I can’t do it." Fincher made the scene less graphic, and according to Mahershala, he and Taraji simply "fall out of the frame" after kissing.

    14. EMBRACED NUDITY/SEX SCENES: Jason Segel did a full-frontal scene in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and he thought it was "hilarious." He told Vulture, "I was actually not very uncomfortable doing it. I really felt free."

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    Universal

    He explained that the nudity wasn't purely to surprise the audience, because there was actually a creative reason behind it: "You have to put it in the context that this was 2006, 2007, and this hadn’t been done before, in my recollection, where the main guy was going to be naked in the first five minutes of the movie. There was a creative idea behind it, it wasn’t just for shock value."

    15. NO TO NUDITY/SEX SCENES: Jessica Alba also has a nudity clause written into her contracts because she doesn't want her family to see her naked onscreen.

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    Stefanie Keenan / Getty Images for Baby2Baby

    She told Glamour, "I don't want my grandparents to see my boobs. That's it. It would be weird at Christmas. And, I mean, really, if you look at the movies I have done, getting naked would never 'elevate' the picture."

    16. EMBRACED NUDITY/SEX SCENES: Halle Berry appeared naked in Monster's Ball and said that she agreed to the nudity because her costar, Billy Bob Thornton, was doing it too. "It was four days before the end of shooting, so we knew who these people were, and we just went for it," she said. "We both agreed to be uninhibited with our bodies, so it wasn't just the woman who was being exposed, and we just said, 'Let's service these characters.' We only had to do it one time, which is good, because you don't really want to have to go there that many times..."

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    Lionsgate

    17. NO TO NUDITY/SEX SCENES: Finally, Rachel Bilson doesn't like to film nude and almost lost out on her role in The Last Kiss because she refused to get naked.

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    She explained to Playboy, "Movies can be sexy or sexual without showing things. It's almost a dealbreaker. The movie was rated R, and they like to put in nudity wherever they can, but I'm pretty strong-willed and believe it can be avoided."