Aubrey Plaza revealed an intimate scene she had to film, which ended up feeling like a “nightmare” after the director’s instructions.
The White Lotus actress has featured in various titles over the years, but one in 2013 stands out to her for all the wrong reasons.
It’s one of her earlier film features, as she played lead Brandy Klark in the romantic comedy The To-Do List.
The film would feature the first sex scene she’d ever appeared in, and upon reflection, she described it as the “weirdest acting job” she had ever done at the time.
When it comes to unsimulated sex scenes, there have been many arguments from both sides on whether they are necessary.
Regular films will usually have fake sex scenes if needs be, employing intimacy coordinators and getting make-up crews to construct modesty garments and more to make the scene believable.
But some directors have a particular vision, which can put actors in an awkward position.
Aubrey Plaza was once asked to perform an unsimulated sex act for a movie. Credit: Taylor Hill / Getty
Aubrey Plaza opens up on unsimulated sex scene
In The To-Do List, Brandy, a recent high school graduate, sets out to have sex with her crush Rusty (Scott Porter) by the end of the summer.
As expected, it isn’t as straightforward as it seems, as Brandy runs in to a number of obstacles, but there is one scene which sticks out to Plaza in particular.
The scene in question involves her character enjoying a moment of self-pleasure, as she admitted to Conan O’Brien on his talk show that she was confused after seeing the direction in the script.
Apparently, the script said “Brandy masturbates,” and Plaza recalled: “In my head I envisioned a nice scene where you just see my hand slowly go out of frame.”
But she said this wasn’t the case, explaining: “That’s what I thought I was going into, but then when I showed up, the camera was mounted on the ceiling, I was in my underwear and a Clinton T-shirt, and there were a bunch of old men smoking, ya know, the crew guys.
“And then I went and touched myself. I thought I was doing one thing and when I showed up it was a whole different thing, it was a full body shot.”
Plaza admitted: “I thought I was doing one thing and when I showed up it was a whole different thing, it was a full body shot and I asked the director ‘what should I do’ and she said ‘masturbate like it says in the script’.”
She admitted that this scene was “the most nerve-racking” to film.
Aubrey Plaza went all out in the unsimulated sex scene. Credit: CBS Films
The director praised her bravery
Plaza didn’t have the best time filming the intimate scene, telling the New York Times: “It was a nightmare.
“I was like, ‘this is the weirdest acting job I’ve ever had in my life’.”
But The To Do List was released 13 years ago, so it’s safe to say that she’s had other weird acting jobs since then.
The film’s director Maggie Carey later praised Plaza, saying she was “so brave” to give the trickier scenes in the film a go.
Speaking to Screen Slam, she explained: “And she had no problem putting herself in these very awkward situations. But, you know, it’s played for comedy and she just nailed it.
“It was just so fun to work with her, yeah, she’s very, err, gutsy.”
