Gemma Whelan: 'Game of Thrones' sex scenes could be a frenzied mess
Game Of Thrones star Gemma Whelan has revealed sex scenes on the fantasy series could be a "frenzied mess" with directors telling her to 'just go for it'.
The 40-year-old actor — also known for her appearances in Killing Eve and Gentleman Jack — played bisexual Ironborn commander Yara Greyjoy in the HBO show. She revealed she liked to discuss sex scenes with her co-stars before the cameras started rolling, as they were 'almost literally' left to get on with it.
Whelan told The Guardian: "They used to just say, ‘When we shout action, go for it!’, and it could be a sort of frenzied mess. But between the actors there was always an instinct to check in with each other. There was a scene in a brothel with a woman and she was so exposed that we talked together about where the camera would be and what she was happy with.
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"A director might say, ‘Bit of boob biting, then slap her bum and go!’, but I’d always talk it through with the other actor.”
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In the second season of Game of Thrones Yara and Theon, played by Alfie Allen, had a notoriously intimate scene on a horse.
Whelan said the recent introduction of intimacy consultants on-set have made her feel more comfortable about sex scenes.
She said: “Alfie was very much, ‘Is this Okay? How are we going to make this work?’
"With intimacy directors, it’s choreography — you move there, I move there, and permission and consent is given before you start. It is a step in the right direction.”
Earlier this year her GoT co-star Hannah Waddingham described a torture scene in the show as "the worst day of my life", claiming she was actually strapped down and waterboarded for 10 hours.
The 46-year-old English West End theatre actor played devoted follower of The High Sparrow, Septa Unella in the HBO show – who was tortured by villainous queen Cersei Lannister, played by Lena Headey, in season six.
Waddingham told Collider’s Ladies Night podcast: “There I was strapped to a wooden table with proper big straps for 10 hours. And definitely, other than childbirth, it was the worst day of my life... I was beside myself.”
The Sex Education star admitted she had opted to be submitted to the real-life torture for the sake of her performance.
Read more: GoT's Hannah Waddingham: I was waterboarded for 10 hours to film torture scene
She went on: "I had no voice at all to barely whisper, bruises already coming up like I had been attacked, and I was like, ‘I've basically just been waterboarded for 10 hours.'
“The one thing I kept thinking to myself [was] ‘the production company aren't going to let you die, so get on with it, be uncomfortable’.”
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