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Many times in movies (especially Hollywood), actors and actresses are shown having intercourse (not talking about pornographic films). Do they really do this? Or fake it?

That's really up to the actor and actress could be an answer, like the one posted in this similar question: Do the actors really go nude in the shooting of the movies?

But my question is very personal regarding the actor and actress. Do they really have sex in mainstream movies? How do they film such shots (real or fake)?

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  • possible duplicate of Do the actors really go nude in the shooting of the movies?
    – Sayan
    Commented Jan 25, 2013 at 7:26
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    @KeyBrdBasher, The thing is different. The other question is do they go nude in movies and this question is do they do sex really. Being nude doesn't imply do sex.
    – Mistu4u
    Commented Jan 25, 2013 at 7:47
  • @Mistu4u: If you go through the entire question and the answers provided, the question asked by the OP here are suitably answered. I think its just a re-phrase of the same question.
    – Sayan
    Commented Jan 25, 2013 at 8:36
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    @Mistu4u: I beg to differ friend. To me the questions are fundamentally same. You can choose to replace nudity in your question with act of sexual intercourse and there you'll get the same answers. Anyways, this discussion seems to be endless, so I'll let it be and let the community take its course.
    – Sayan
    Commented Jan 25, 2013 at 11:30
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    I am struggling to take this question seriously. Is it just me or is it clear that almost all movies involve actors simulating sex. Often you don't see genitals at all. I don't understand why is it difficult to understand how they film such shots? Even where body doubles are used for nude shots, they are almost never actually having sex.
    – iandotkelly
    Commented Jan 25, 2013 at 13:49

2 Answers 2

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Most of them are not. They are just acting. The only time they actually do participate in it is in porn. Unless the camera shows you that the actress or actor is trying to "hide" something from the camera's view then you know that it is for pretend.

(Source: Wikianswers)

Usually they would use a body double for the nude parts in movies. But in normal film genres, the scenes are not real. It's just clever camera takes and film direction. It could take a day to film it!

Scenes may appear steamy, and there may be a lot of skin contact (one could argue that this is sexual activity) but there are barriers in place. Directors do attempt to be as sensitive to the needs of the performers as possible.

(Source: Wikianswers)

Actors have lessons on doing love scenes. There can be serious repercussions and allegations if it were for real. Here's are some excellent in-depth answers to question:

  1. http://en.allexperts.com/q/Careers-Acting-Performing-1479/Love-Scenes.htm
  2. http://blogs.smh.com.au/entertainment/archives/box_office/007549.html

Also see this answer - the part where this person said he or she has worked in the motion picture industry for 20 years for question 'How do actors not get aroused during sex scenes?'

(Source: Wikianswers)

Though there are rumors/facts who says some couples at movies have sex, not many do that, is usually simulation of sex.:

  1. Wiki list of Films with non-simulated sexual activity
  2. Leung Ka-Fai or Tony Leung and Jane March at "the Lover" (1992, France),
  3. While filming "Boxcar Bertha"(1972), stars Barbara Hershey and David Carradine fell in love. They have said in interviews that some of their sex scenes were real. This film is directed by Martin Scorsese.
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    I appreciate you are contributing and really helping to build our site. However, when copying large sections of your answer from other sources, you must check the copyright situation. For Wikianswers they require proper attributions. Please see meta.movies.stackexchange.com/questions/752/…
    – iandotkelly
    Commented Jan 25, 2013 at 14:27
  • Without wishing to say that Wikipedia is right, the following entry is of interest: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unsimulated_sex
    – Julian
    Commented Jan 25, 2013 at 17:56
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While standard movie technique is to suggest by clever positioning of the camera and careful scene setup that sex is taking place, there have always been rumours of more. These are hard to verify but plausible. For example, Last Tango in Paris was rumoured to have some real sex as was Don't Look Now.

But mainstream censorship rules in many countries would have prevented any possible verification of this in the released footage as, if the movie were explicit enough to see real sexual acts such as penetration, it would automatically receive a pornography classification.

But some censors have been getting a lot more relaxed recently. In 2004 the BBFC (the british film classification body) approved a mainstream release (18 certificate, so nobody can see it under the age of 18) of 9 Songs, a movie by the mainstream (if a bit arthouse) british director Michael Winterbottom. In 9 Songs the actors really did have sex on set and the movie is explicit enough to see this. The movie was controversial (see this Guardian story written before release) at the time, but less so than expected. More surprisingly, it isn't very erotic as the lack of subtlety in the sex scenes seems to neutralise their effect (for example, see this Guardian review).

What 9 Songs proves is that, sometimes, people really are having sex in the movie. But there is little correlation between the reality and the erotic power of the scenes.

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