Michael Douglas Gets Candid About Filming Intimate Scenes: 'The Big Thing Is Trust'

Veteran Hollywood actor Michael Douglas has spoken candidly about his experience of filming intimate scenes in movies. In his words, behind such scenes lie extensive discussion, mutual trust and carefully arranged movements — in reality the work is far more planned than it appears from the outside.

In a recent appearance on 'Happy, Sad, Confused' with Josh Horowitz, the 82-year-old actor looked back to the early days of his career — a time when there were no 'intimacy coordinators', dedicated staff to oversee intimate scenes, on film sets.

'There's an art to sex scenes in films. It's not easy to do things like shadowing people when you're on top and this and that,' Douglas said. In other words, actors have to keep many technical details in mind to make a scene believable in front of the camera.

But for him, the biggest thing is trust. 'But the big thing with sex scenes is trust,' he said. 'And as long as the lady is trusting me — obviously I trust her — it's like a dance. You're taking the lead.'

He said every movement was discussed slowly before filming began. What would happen at which point, where touch was acceptable and where it was not — everything was settled in advance before the cameras rolled. 'You do it, and it's just like choreographing a fight scene,' Douglas said by way of comparison.

'You start very slowly … and then action. It makes it look like it really happens,' he added. In other words, that step-by-step preparation is what gives the scene its natural feel on screen.

Douglas placed special emphasis on the comfort of female performers. A set surrounded mostly by male crew members is awkward enough for women, he said, especially in those days, so making sure they were as comfortable as possible was essential.

In the conversation, Douglas also restated his long-held view of acting as ensemble work. 'I've always thought your role is one small part of the whole,' he said. 'And so what you really need … is better actors around you. You want the best you can get because it's the whole thing that matters.'

Another remark concerned his choice of roles — 'I'd rather be good in a little movie than lousy in a big part.' Many see that philosophy reflected throughout the Oscar winner's career.

In his new memoir, 'One Helluva Ride', Douglas has pulled back the curtain on the most explosive moments of his life, in front of the camera and behind the scenes. The book covers his volatile relationship with his late father, the legendary actor Kirk Douglas, his son Cameron's addiction and imprisonment, and the Stage 4 cancer diagnosis that forced him to confront his own mortality.

In one part of the book, Douglas wrote that early in his career, while filming 'Adam at 6 A.M.', he and his married co-star Lee Purcell became romantically involved and had to keep the relationship secret until filming ended. Purcell, however, disputed Douglas's account in a statement, saying their relationship during filming was strictly professional and that the personal relationship came much later.

The book also recounts an affair with screenwriter Diane Thomas during 'Romancing the Stone', and acknowledges that he and his first wife, Diandra, were both involved in extramarital relationships as their marriage deteriorated. Between the memoir and the interview, Douglas's candid turn is now the talk of Hollywood.