Acting can be tough. Making intense scenes believable is something that can take decades of discipline to get right. Kurt Russell, leading man of several classic action movies, doesn’t like doing sex scenes, because he believes viewers always know it isn’t real.
In an interview with Details, as reported by CinemaBlend, Russell discussed that he prefers eroticism to be crucial to the story, otherwise it’s just tedious. “In my career, I’ve only done a couple of scenes in which there was open sexuality, and it was always a story point,” he explains. “I didn’t find a story point in that one – they were just letting you know that people like to fuck. My problem with that is that everybody knows you’re faking it. That’s just not the way I work. Fake-fucking is tough.”
The project in question was 1982’s An Officer and a Gentleman. Russell states he was offered the part, but didn’t gel with director Taylor Hackford’s desire to go “just beyond the bounds of good taste”. Sometimes less is more, and Russell walked away.
Speaking on Today around the same time, The Hateful Eight and MCU star pointed to thriller movie Unlawful Entry as an example of a good sex scene. There, he’s making love to his wife, who spots someone watching them.
“There’s this scene where Ray Liotta’s this bad cop, and he’s watching me have sex with my wife, and she sees him,” Russell states. “OK, then you got a scene, let’s make this work.”
It’s hard to argue with Russell’s logic. Eroticism has its place, but it’s important to not overdo anything, lest you seem edgy or like you’re trying to be lude for the sake of it. Telling a story matters, and this is one of many principles that has no doubt served him well in his career.
Check out our list of the best romance movies for more loving intimacy.