Oscar-winner Alicia Vikander’s awful sex scene experience: ‘That was not right’

This story was one of Herald Entertainment’s most read in 2022

Swedish actress Alicia Vikander has recalled a mortifying sex scene encounter on one of her movies.

The Tomb Raider star, who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for The Danish Girl in 2016, told Harpers Bazaar that shooting X-rated scenes before intimacy co-ordinators were introduced on-set was "the worst thing ever".

"I am very comfortable with my body and I've done quite a bit of nudity and sex scenes, but it's never easy," Vikander, 33, said.

While she didn't specify which film, Vikander opened up about a particular scene which left her feeling uncomfortable.

Vikander won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for The Danish Girl in 2016. Photo / Getty Images

"Everyone was busy doing their own thing and, in the middle, you have an actor who sits there naked for a couple of hours. And someone is supposed to arrive with a robe, and they don't," she said.

"[The realisation] comes afterwards – that was not right. I should have been looked after.

"I've been in situations that were not fine, where I didn't feel I was protected."

Vikander, who said she shot her first sex scene aged 20, added that intimacy co-ordinators "should have existed at the beginning of my career".

It's only been in recent years that co-ordinators have become a necessity.

They can be found working in New Zealand across film and tv, with acting legend Jennifer Ward-Lealand among the small number of registered co-ordinators working to assure that Kiwi actors stay safe.

"We had been hearing for a long time about difficult experiences, either because people had been abusive, or because there has been little or no communication," Ward-Lealand told The Spinoff in 2021.

"Actors were historically told to just go for it and sort something out on their own. If you can imagine any different power dynamic – male, female, senior, junior – it's incredibly problematic."

- Additional reporting, NZ Herald