Michael Douglas reveals secret to good sex scenes

Oscar-winning actor Michael Douglas has spoken out candidly about sex again, this time dismissing the trend for intimacy coordinators on film sets.

Intimacy coordinators aim to help actors feel more comfortable during intimate scenes by giving them barricades, talking to them about how they are feeling and altering scenes if they are feeling awkward.

The 78-year-old, whose starred in some of the Hollywood’s steamiest films, told an audience at the Cannes Film Festival yesterday that he knows a thing or two about how to pull off a convincing sex scene without the help of an intimacy coach.

The Basic Instinct and Fatal Attraction star went on to reveal the secret to nailing a good sex scene while appearing unconvinced by the new trend for intimacy coordinators.

“Now you can’t do anything without an intimate coach,” he lamented.

“But the secret – since I’ve become the expert on sex scenes, I guess – is rehearsal. Like you do a fight scene, you have to work out the choreography. You start very slowly and work your way up to a faster pace,” Douglas continued.

“If you’re doing a love scene, it’s important for the lady that you don’t take advantage. so you tell them beforehand I’m going to put my hand here, you put your hand there and then we kiss-kiss.

“If you’re successful, it looks impulsive, but it’s all very choreographed.”

Douglas, who reportedly struggled with sex addiction before he met wife Catherine Zeta-Jones, received an honorary Palme d’Or at the festival in celebration of his career, which has included hits such as The American President, his Oscar-winning turn in Wall Street and his production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

He has brought five films to Cannes – the most awkward being Basic Instinct in 1992.

The film’s explicit sex scenes were “unique even for France,” Douglas said.

“Watching those sex scenes on the biggest screen I’d ever seen… we had a very quiet dinner afterwards. Everyone was digesting it,” he added with a laugh.