‘House of the Dragon’: Emily Carey Says Shooting Sex Scenes With Older Cast Members Was ‘Terrifying’

‘House of the Dragon’: Emily Carey Says Shooting Sex Scenes With Older Cast Members Was ‘Terrifying’

Actress Emily Carey recently revealed that she was scared to shoot her sex scenes with co-star Paddy Considine for “House of the Dragon.” The actress admitted that at the time, she was 17 and Considine was 47, and they’d never met, so her fears were justifiable. 

However, meeting Considine and the presence of intimacy coordinators made filming the scenes a more comfortable experience for Carey. She also said she was happy the coordinators handled scenes that included intimacy. However, Sean Bean, an actor from “Game of Thrones,” recently criticized the use of intimacy coordinators on film sets.


Emily Carey in Instagram/Emily Carey

Carey also spoke about how the show’s team treats the female actresses. She explained that she was worried when she first took the job and watched “Game of Thrones” for the first time. However, the care and open conversation culture that the showrunners created made Carey and the other women feel safe.


Read on to find out more.


Emily Carey Was Concerned About Her Sex Scenes


Carey played the role of Alicent Hightower in the “Game of Thrones” prequel and admitted in a recent interview with Newsweek that she was worried about her sex scenes. The actress had two sex scenes with her older co-star Paddy Considine in the recently released episode of “House of the Dragon.”


The first of the two scenes shows Hightower bathing King Viserys, Considine’s character, and the second is a sex scene in which Carey participates unwillingly. Throughout the second scene, the actress maintains a passive expression, lying motionless through most of the movements.


She told Newsweek, “It scared me, because at that point I still hadn’t met Paddy, I didn’t know how much of a joy he was and how easy he was going to make [the scene], and all I saw was, you know, a 47-year-old man and me, I was a bit concerned.”


The Intimacy Coordinators Made It Better


Carey explained that the presence of the intimacy coordinators made her experience filming the sec scenes much more comfortable. Intimacy coordinators are a somewhat recent introduction to the film industry, as they choreograph intimacy and sex scenes between actors and ensure their comfort and well-being in such situations.


House of the Dragon castInstagram/Emily Carey

Carey said, “Having that outlet of the intimacy coordinator, to be able to talk everything through and not be shunned, or not feel awkward, or not feel like ‘Oh, this isn’t your job. I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable but can I ask you…’ it was never any of that, it was just that open dialogue.”


She also expressed that she was thankful the intimacy coordinators monitored the bathing scene, although it wasn’t exactly a sex scene. Carey said, “Again, still being 17, the first scene that I read from the show was my sex scene and my intimacy scenes, that includes the scene where I’m bathing the king—anything that felt intimate was considered an intimacy scene, which I thought was great.


Sean Bean Recently Criticized Intimacy Coordination


Carey’s statements on her opinion of intimacy coordinators come not long after Sean Bean, a “Game of Thrones” alum actor, criticized the use of intimacy coordinators on film sets. Bean spoke about the topic during a recent interview with The Times Magazine.


The actor said that the coordinators “would inhibit me more because it’s drawing attention to things” and noted that they “spoil the spontaneity” of the scene. Bean continued, “Somebody saying, ‘Do this, put your hands there while you touch his thing.”


Bean concluded by explaining that he sees intimacy coordination as a way to ruin the “natural way lovers behave.” He claimed that their work brings down the point of the moment to “a technical exercise.”


Emily Carey Spoke On How The Show Treats Its Female Cast


However, during Carey’s interview with Newsweek, she pointed out how essential things like intimacy coordination were in ensuring the comfort of the female actresses. She also reflected on how different “House of the Dragon” is compared to “Game of Thrones.”


Emily Carey during the HBO Max serie House of the Dragon European premiere at Beurs van Berlage in Amsterdam.MEGA

The actress said, “I’d never seen Game of Thrones before, and so in the pre-production period I sat down to try and watch [it] and of course the first season, even just the first episode of Thrones, there’s a lot of violence upon women. There’s a lot of violent sex and it made me nervous. I was like, ‘Oh God, what am I gonna have to do in this show?'”


She then explained that once filming started, there was a lot of open dialogue about how “this is how it’s going to be different from the original… This is how we want the viewers to view the women in our show.” Carey said, “I think that open conversation is so important, it made us all feel incredibly secure and safe in the hands of Ryan (Condala) and Miguel (Sapochnik).”