Movie Sex Scenes Could Be Replaced With CGI

Back in pre-coronavirus times, I seem to remember often encountering a click-baity headline to the effect of “Movie Sex Scenes Where They Actually Did It!” This was probably never true to begin with, but in a post-COVID world of filmmaking, not only will we question whether the actors in sex scenes are actually having sex, but we may also have to wonder whether they’re even actually pretending to have sex.

As Hollywood prepares to resume film and TV production when California reopens at the end of the week, studio execs are working on a plan to keep cast and crew safe in the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic. According to a new set of social-distancing protocols outlined in a 22-page file from the film editors’ trade association, scenes involving intimate contact are to be “either rewritten, abandoned” or replaced with computer-generated imagery (CGI), the Sun reported.

The paper outlining the new post-COVID industry protocols was presented to the governors of New York and California this month in a plea to resume production, and while the report promises that performers “shall practice physical distancing” whenever possible, Hollywood clearly isn’t ready to ditch sex scenes entirely, even if that means replacing them with computer animation.

Interestingly, while mainstream filmmakers are trying to minimize physical contact between actors in intimate scenes, the porn industry may actually be better prepared for shooting safe sex in the post-coronavirus era. As Hollywood tries to figure out how to avoid spreading COVID-19 on set, porn industry professionals have suggested the mainstream industry adopt a simple testing system the porn biz has used for decades to keep its performers STI-free.

“When we first starting talking about COVID, we felt very well prepared because we have a whole history of testing within the industry as well as contact tracing and production shut-downs,” a spokesman for the Free Speech Coalition, a trade association for the US adult entertainment industry, told Reuters.

So while Hollywood may be trying to keep sex scenes safe by removing more intimate contact than ever, it turns out the safest sex scenes have been the ones filmed on porn sets all along.

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