Ewan McGregor Says He & Wife Mary Elizabeth Winstead Needed An Intimacy Coordinator On New Show!

Ewan McGregor is weighing in on the intimacy coordinator debate!

A lot of actors who’ve been in the business a long time don’t get the new position. But Ewan thinks it’s great! In a new Radio Times interview, he explained how he feels having someone to talk actors through physical contact with one another — from kissing to simulated sex — can help.

He used his daughter Esther as an example. The 22-year-old is just getting started in her career with roles like the teen drama High School. He pointed out how a rising star her age might have a nude scene suggested by a famous director. With no one in between to discuss it with, she might feel obliged:

“Then five years after that, she could look back and go, ‘I wish I hadn’t. Why am I naked in that scene? It’s unnecessary.’ Now there’s somebody she talks to whose career doesn’t rest on the shoulders of this person.”

A really good point! Of course, as someone who’s been fully naked on camera more than most actors, he really knows what he’s talking about!

The surprising thing though? Learning he needed an intimacy coordinator on his new show A Gentleman In Moscow. It’s only odd because the sex scenes are apparently with his wife, Mary Elizabeth Winstead!

Um… not to get too personal, but the couple do have a young child together. So we know they’ve been intimate before! LOLz! So why do they need someone to help? Ewan explained:

“It’s still necessary, because it’s also about the crew, and it’s odd to be naked in front of people, it’s odd to be intimate in front of the camera.”

Put another way, he said:

“If you were doing a dance scene, you’d have a choreographer. It’s an important part of the work now, because it’s somebody that the director and actors meet in the middle.”

Even Ewan and Mary Elizabeth, frequent co-stars and real-life luvvahs in the nighttime, need an intimacy coordinator — because they aren’t the only people there! It’s coordinating to get the director’s vision, to make sure the performers are comfortable with what’s being captured by the camera, the whole thing. Just making sure everything goes right.

Advancements like the standard practice of having an intimacy coordinator help Ewan feel more comfortable with his daughters following in his footsteps. In addition to Esther, 28-year-old Clara McGregor is also an actress. So Ewan is happy about all the changes: