Fair City star Maria Oxley Boardman says intimacy coordinators are 'so important' for actors as she opened up about the reality of shooting saucy scenes.
The actress and pharmacist is best known as Carrigstown’s Dearbhla Dillon, who has had her fair share of scandalous storylines over the years.
She says soap bosses have always put her at ‘ease’ when shooting intimate scenes, but feels an intimacy coordinator would be a welcome addition to the team.
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She said: “I think it is so so important. I think you know when people talk about intimacy some people immediately think of ‘ah there will be sex and how are we going to coordinate this’.
“But it kind of comes down to all kinds of intimacy. It could be a row, kissing, it could be just standing this close to somebody and I think now that there is an awareness of actor’s levels of comfort in any of those things, that there is a huge range of intimate scenes.
“We don’t [have one] but I think it would be an interesting thing to consider. I have to say though, we have some really good floor managers who kind of help to put you at ease.”
Lifting the lid on how she prepares for any intimate or potentially uncomfortable scenes in her script, she went on: “When you have to kiss somebody at the beginning when you read it you are like ‘oh there's the kiss’ you know.
“But I have only worked with people that I have felt comfortable with and there has been a discussion about it but I can imagine it is not always that way.”
It comes after actor Sean Bean, who played Ned Stark on Game of Thrones, sparked controversy over the topic when he recently told the Times of London Sunday Magazine that he is not a fan of intimacy coordinators because he fears they would “spoil the spontaneity” of intimate scenes.
Maria, who hails from Milltown Pass, Co Westmeath, but lives in Dublin, has been working on Fair City for over three years, alongside her work as a pharmacist, particularly during the pandemic.
And as life has slowly returned to normal, she said filming on the soap is also slowly returning to more relaxed pre pandemic protocols.
“There are still restrictions in place but they are slowly easing up,” she explained.
“We have been back on sets that we haven’t been on in a long time which is really exciting.
“And there are more extras and being filled out with more characters involved in scenes and all which is great.”
Maria was speaking at RTE’s new season launch where she teased dramatic scenes to unfold for the soap’s 33rd anniversary next month.
She said: “There is always a big saucy and exciting storyline coming up around that time’.
“It involves beloved characters and maybe some characters that we don’t know so well yet and I think that it is one that the audience are going to be on the edge of their seats for.”
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