All language subtitles for Body.Parts.2022.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH

(dramatic music)

(singer vocalizing)

(gate clattering)

- When I first signed
with an agent, they said,

"Oh, yeah, you're gonna
have to get naked,

and everybody knows that
winning the Oscar represents

that you're not gonna
get naked anymore."

(crew chattering indistinctly)

- You're out there
while the men are

on the sides wearing parkas.

You're just standing
there with no shirt on.

Everybody's standing,
staring at you.

- A lot of the nudity
that was asked of me

was not in the contract.

I thought, at the time, "This
is what paying your dues is."

- I was afraid if I said no

that it would make
me too vulnerable.

For some reason,
sayin no

would make me more
vulnerable than being naked.

- Did I have to be topless?

Probably not.

- Already as an
artist, as an actor,

my body no longer
belongs to me.

You are giving over your
likeness to a character,

and then that character
becomes something

that belongs to the
world, and that's crazy.

- This idea of, "Oh,
I'm less of a true actor

if I do nudity," as if
it's this negative thing,

but who decided that?

- [Director] Zoom
in if you can.

- I wanted to be naked so
there's a sense of normalcy

about what our
bodies represent,

not just for trans
people but period.

(crate thudding)
(metal clinking)

- [Crew] Yeah, can we just...

- All these movies

that I watched growing
up chipped away

at my sense of who I was,
how to know who I was,

how to know what I wanted.

- [Director] Okay,
marks, everyone.

- [Joey] How do
we find our desire

when we're so used
to being looked at?

- [Director] Interior bedroom
night, this is a closed set,

so if you're not in this
scene or working this scene,

please exit the stage.

- What we see over and over
again is women have to fight

for ownership of
their own body.

- [Crew] Okay, here we go.

- Quiet please.
- Quiet.

- [Crew] Roll sound.

- [Crew] Camera speeds.

- [Crew] Scene 20,
take five, marker.

- [Crew] 'Kay, robe's off.

- [Crew] Action.

(projector clattering)

(singer vocalizing)

- Everybody learns
how to behave

and sex and other
things from the movies,

our notions of ourselves,
our notions of beauty,

our notions of romance,

what sex is allowed to be, and
who it's allowed to be with.

- How to kiss, how
to have sex,

how to be tender,
how to be violent.

I mean, there are so many
things we learn from movies,

particularly when
we're younger.

(projector clattering)

- It's hard to talk about sex,

but here we have all of
these examples of movies,

and television, and
now the Internet

to show us what we
are thinking

about our relation
to sex through media.

- Sex education.

(students laughing)

- Don't have sex 'cause you
will get pregnant and die.

- That's it then
for the penis.

Let's move on

to the, the --

female privates.

- We are sex ed,

the TV industry
and the film industry.

We are sex ed.

- When I didn't think
I was gonna make it

as a filmmaker, as a director,

I really wanted to do
sex education curriculums

in high schools 'cause I
just find so many things,

like, so shocking
about what women

and girls, like, aren't
ever told about sex.

- [Joey] Which is probably

why I'm really
fascinated as a director

(door slamming)

with what happens
behind closed doors.

(film rustling)

- I was raised so
conservative and so Christian

that I remember watching
"Ace Ventura" (laughs),

and it was the first
time I realized

that sex wasn't just the
penis going into the vagina --

(bed clanging)

...because the bed was shaking
back and forth, realizing

that there was, like, an
actual movement that happened.

- For me, the sex scene that
sticks out is "Love Jones."

There was, like, one moment
within the scene where

Larenz actually
kissed her nipple,

and I was like,
"Whoa."

Like, "They're allowed
to put this in movies?"

Like, "This is crazy.

Oh, this is what
sex looks like.

This is how I'm supposed
to look as a woman."

- [Stacy] When I was a
teenager I remember watching

"Fast Times
at Ridgemont High,"

and there was Phoebe Cates,

- Hi, Brent.

- who was the object of
desire,

and so wanted,

and so unattainable, and
I remember thinking, like,

"I really wanna be her."

- I desperately wanted
to be the object.

(singer vocalizing)

(energetic music)
(projector clattering)

- There's a long tradition in
American movies of showgirls,

of literally showing girls,

identical-looking women
opening their legs in unison

going back to the
earliest musicals.

(energetic music continues)

- The idealized and
commodified --

sexuality of women,

it's as old an
invention as film.

(pensive music)

- Eadweard Muybridge
was a photographer

who would give lectures,
and he would show

very, very short
sequences of motion.

(slides clicking)

When he got to the women,

he fundamentally didn't know
what purposeful activity

to give them to do,

and so he had them flirt fans,

or walk up some stairs,
or walk down some stairs.

One woman is gazing
longingly at another woman.

So, the men act,

and the women are always
aware of being looked at.

(slides clicking)
(pensive music continues)

(dramatic music)

(keys clattering)
- [Writer] Jane, 30s,

beautiful but pissed.

Jane, an attractive and
fit nurse in her late 30s.

Jane 40s, looks 35.

Jane's the Harvard type.
Pretty, Hispanic.

Smart as shit and beautiful.

- We need a woman who's
strong-willed but hot.

She has to be
strong-willed but hot, --

meaning that a
strong-willed woman is

usually not attractive.

- The bimbo hot mamacita,

seductress, voluptuous,
curvaceous, sassy.

(dramatic music continues)

- I make you feel
real nice today, Doug.

I played this one
character who was

an Asian masseuse,

(laughing) and I remember

when that casting breakdown
was being faxed to me

and was (laughing) like,
"Is she also a bad driver,

and is she good at math?"

I mean, how many
stereotypes can you roll

into this one character?

(projector clattering)

- You read so many
scripts, and you're like,

"This is what you're gonna do,

(film bursting in flame)

this, and then you're gonna
get money to make this,

and then you're gonna put this
thought out into the world

with these characters?"

- When I first started
my TV writing career,

they were always looking
for a female writer to hire.

It's terrible to say,

but at the time I
felt really fortunate.

I was like, "Oh, they're
looking for a female writer.

I could be that
female writer,"

but of course I wasn't
putting it together, like,

'cause they already have a
writer's room of 11 guys.

And there wasn't
a lot of interest

in authentic female stories.

I'll put it that way.

- In some ways, I
think there's

a (laughing) lotta 20 and
30 something male writers,

who they'd admit, "I'm not
really sure I wanna to know

what's in a woman's
head," you know,

and, "I'd rather stand
out here

and put a
gun in a guy's hand,

and I'll write that story."

In some respects, we may
have been shirking it.

- They were just
telling their stories,

and in their
stories, many times,

we were
one-dimensional objects.

- It's limited choices,
and that's just

because it comes from
limited imaginations.

(switch clicking)
(projector clattering)

- You bad girl.

- Mm, you'll find out.

- In the very early
cinema, shockingly,

you find something different.

(upbeat music)

- In the late 20s, early 30s,

we did have a lot of
women writing screenplays.

I mean a lot.

I would say, like, 50-50.

- Let's all, let's run.

- [Mick] What you're seeing is

the modern woman
expressed on screen.

- I don't believe in what
you believe, that's all.

I don't wanna get married.

- I'm the doctor.

- [Mick] And very importantly,

you can have a woman be
very sexually adventurous.

- Hold me close.

- The 20s and 30s
was the sexiest time

for women in movies, the
Betty Davises, the May Wests,

- A little bit spicy
but not too raw,

you know what I mean? (laughs)

- [Jane] the Garbos,
they were naughty women.

They were dangerous women.

- Mm, your hand is shaking.

(horseback rider laughing)

- Women who starred
in the movies had

a lot of power in those days,
and they'd draw box office,

and they were saying, "I
wanna do stuff that's real."

- I wanna do it and not
have somebody tell me

I ought to do something else.

(propeller clattering)

(airplane engine roaring)

- Women in film were
enjoying free expression.

(actor laughing)

And all of a sudden, this
vein was just cut off.

It was just gone.

- The vulgar, the cheap,
and the tawdry is out.

There is no room on the
screen, at any time,

for pictures which offend
against common decency.

- [Linda] The Hollywood
production code was invented

so that Hollywood
could police itself

and, in that policing,

prevent any kind of
state censorship.

(audience laughing)

- Night.
- Night.

- [Linda] Couples are sleeping
in separate beds,

(gentle lilting music)

keep both feet firmly
planted on the floor.

Kisses were only allowed
to be three seconds long,

and what the kiss would lead
to could never be shown,

no sexual relations between
white and black characters.

- [Mick] There was no sex
allowed outside of marriage.

- Goodbye mother.

- But also sex
outside of marriage,

to the extent that
it could be shown,

had to be shown as
something that was tragic.

- [Lover] Goodbye, baby.

(gunshots blasting)

- We had different
groups of people

locked into a certain
representation.

- Just hold on and suck in.

- [Stephane] They're servants.

They're the sidekick.

- Turn me loose, you
fool, turn me loose.

It's Ashley.

- [Stephane] Hattie McDaniel,
who was crazily talented,

had to perfect the
ability to play Mammy.

- What's that
rustling noise I hear?

- Lordy, Mr. Rhett,
that ain't nothing

but my red silk petticoat
you done give me.

- Black women had to be
positioned in this way

in which they were
sexually non-threatening

to white women on screen.

Later on, they were
hypersexual or deviant.

- I suggest that, while
you're on this ship,

you wear something a
little less revealing.

- Does it bother the captain?

- [Stephane] Hollywood
didn't have in mind

black female actresses
as leading ladies.

(suspenseful music)

- Anna May Wong was the first
Chinese American movie star.

She was always cast
as the dragon lady.

- Ronald.
- Uh, Joan.

- The person who would
- (gunshot)

steal your husband.

With the code, interracial
marriage was not acceptable.

It prevented her from
ever being a leading lady.

- Don't do anything foolish.

- Women's roles
were destroyed.

- Now, you listen to me.

You're going to
marry Phil Marshall

and keep your mouth
shut till you die.

- Just at a time

when women in film were
enjoying some agency.

(gentle apprehensive music)

(actors chattering
indistinctly)

- After my first movie, when
I started going on auditions,

I hated asking for anything,

and just by dint of
being there,

you're kind of in
this position,

you know, to say,
"Alms for the poor?"

- He's just like,
"Forget that I'm famous."

He's just like, you know.
- I know.

- The feedback I
would get, you know,

going in for, like, these
female leads would be like,

"Is she sexy enough?"

- Do it like Shakespeare
but sexy.

- Okay.

- Right there.

- Thanks, okay,
nice to meet you.

- [Rose] You're being
dissected immediately

for your body.

And it's something about
being in a long hallway

with all these girls

with tight tops and
miniskirts on and a big dream.

- The amount of parts
that say "nudity required"

or, like,
"simulated sex required"

creates the situation

where all women have
to decide yes or no

before they even get to
audition for the role.

- You will lose out on work

if you are not
willing to do nudity.

- At the the big studios,

they called it Bikini Day.

(paper rustling)

They would write a part
for a girl that had to be

in a bikini for no
apparent reason.

So, then they would have
auditions for said

bikini girl,

and that would be the
day they could get

all of the producers there
and the director there

to decide on other,
more important roles.

- A shocking pink.

(footsteps plodding)

- When I was younger I
definitely went to auditions

for the, you know,
sexy teenager.

(glitzy music)

- [Presenter] Lorimar presents

Blake Edwards' "S.O.B."

- We were all required to
come in wearing a bikini.

I was very well endowed,

and I got the part.

(dramatic music)

We were about to shoot.

Blake Edwards, he said,
"Okay, so Rosanna,

when you come in,
you know what?

Let's just lose the
bikini top.

Okay, everybody,
let's go, "

and I was like,
"Um, Mr., Mr. Edwards,

you mean take my, take
my bikini top off?"

I was 19 at the time.

And he goes, "Yeah, what, do
you have a problem with that?"

And I said, "Well, I didn't
know I was gonna be nude.

I didn't know I was
gonna be naked."

And he goes, "Oh, man, Tony,"
to his, you know, producer.

He goes, "Call her agent."

And I just remembered, like,
everybody waiting for me

and then him looking,
you know, holding out,

and I was such in a
panic, and I did it,

and I felt very humiliated
and very sad about it.

But you know, this
was those days.

It was a completely
different consciousness.

You were expected
to do these things.

(dramatic music continues)

(waves lapping)

(birds chirping)

- The best way to do this,
to get the right head motion,

and also the DP's
gonna have to put

the camera in the right
place is you make a fist,

you put your thumb here.

(actor laughing)

You suck your own thumb.

(actor laughing)

And if you put the
camera right behind them,

- [Actor] Mm-hmm,
it just looks like-

- then you get the whole-
- [Actor] Yeah.

- Thing.

And it gets the right-
- Freaky.

- Yeah, oh, yeah, wow.

- The guy's head movement.
- The look of it.

- Yep.
- Wow.

Did not know that.

- Wow.

- [Actor] Yep, okay.

- Today, we're gonna
be getting to the core

of what does it mean to
be an intimacy coordinator

and, like, how does all
this stuff function.

We're gonna talk about the
three most common types

or, like, themes
in choreography,

which are romance,
passion, dominance,

so like, what sorts of
touch are associated

and then what are
some, like, hints

in terms of often
dialogue that we're going

in the direction of
this theme.

Romance typically has a gentle

but solid feeling
at the same time.

See how light he's being?

- [Students] Yeah.

- [Amanda] Long, soft,
continuous strokes

over different
areas of the body,

- [Student] This guy's-
- That reads romantic.

They're about to go into
passion, and here we go,

(romantic music)
(lips smacking)

(lover moaning)

It's kind of animalistic, and
they kind of just, like, allow

themselves to get lost
in the experience,

and it's a bit out of control.

(lovers moaning)

So, the last one's dominance.

- [Amanda] The energy tends
to be cool, calm, collected.

- [Amanda] It can be sadistic.
(lever clanging)

(actor breathing heavily)

It can be punishing.

(actor breathing heavily)
(tape creaking)

- Just is occurring to me
how fraught this is for men.

- A lot of them are
afraid of, like,

"What if I, like, cross
another person's boundaries?"

Or, "What if I, like, harm her
or do something?" you know.

- And you have to
do a good job.

It needs to look a
certain way.

I mean it's a lot of-
- Mm-hmm.

- Ooh.
- Yeah.

- It's, like, an exaggeration

of everything in the culture
happening right there.

- [Amanda] Yeah.

- [Student] Mm-hmm.

(tense music)
- Okay, here we go,

let's lock it up, please.

- [Crew] Belle Rose, take one.

- All right, quiet
now, on a bell.

(bell ringing)

And roll please.

- Speed.

(slate clacking)

- If there's gonna be nudity
or a sex scene in a movie,

SAG has certain requirements.

(metal clanging)

They have to send
you, in writing,

what the sex or the
nudity is going to entail.

(tense music continues)

- The nudity rider is
a very thorough list

of what can or cannot be shown

and what you will
or will not do.

- You have these

fairly dry conversations

about boob, side
boob, nipple, flank.

That's a big one, flank.

- Let me see your tits.

(footsteps plodding)

- [Writer] For the purposes
of this nudity consent rider,

player agrees that player
services will require

nudity and/or simulated
sex scenes in accordance

with the terms and
conditions provided herein.

- Very nice.

- I'll show the side of my
breast but not my nipple.

I'll show my rear end,

but I only want
(eraser scratching)

part of the butt
crack to show.

- It's sometimes a
little odd to go through

how specific it is,

(pen etching)

you know, whether
you're going to see

the nipple or not,
the areola or not.

- It even gets as specific as,
like, if you have a position,

if you're doing, like,
doggie style, for example,

it includes the anal cavity.

- And even with
the nudity rider,

it's not entirely perfect.

- [Executive] Thought
that's what you wanted.

- No.

- It has definitely happened
where people thought

a scene was gonna get
portrayed one way,

and they arrive, and all of
a sudden the director has

this other, really
creative idea.

The sex scene wasn't,
"Oh, we're making love."

It's very harsh,

(lovers moaning)

things that they would
not have agreed to

if they had understood
(lover moaning)

how the director was going
to film that nude scene.

- [Crew] Video.

(slate clacking)

- And if it's not SAG, you
don't have protections.

There's a whole
arena of movies

where you're not
covered by a union.

You have no protections.

- I went on set,
and I discovered

that I had two nude
scenes, not one.

I was told that it was
gonna be empowering.

In this industry,
things happen so fast.

They don't really, you know,
sit down with you like,

"Oh, we're thinking
about doing it this way

or this other way."

When I saw the final product,

I didn't think it
was tasteful at all.

(tense music continues)

- [Crew] Talent to set.

- And that's why it's
really so important on a set

to have a person who can
help you enforce your rights.

- [Director] Action.

(brush grating)

- The hair I'm
using is human hair.

It's permed and straightened,

and I've got two or three
different colors here,

and I'm blending
the colors together.

(fingers brushing cloth)

Actors that are doing
mainstream entertainment

are not signing up to do
a real sex scene.

They're not really having sex,

but they have to really
look like they are,

so a merkin is

essentially a pubic hair wig.

(scissors slicing)

And a lot of ladies
say they like wearing

the modesty garment
with the merkin over it

'cause they look
totally naked,

but they don't
feel like they are.

They feel like they're wearing
an item of clothing still,

so they feel safe.

And then, when it's done,
it's very natural looking.

I like to present them
in nice little boxes.

Kinda makes everybody
kinda comfortable

about the whole situation,
which can be very awkward.

- [Actor] Hi, good morning.

- Hi.
- Hi.

- Do you have any
skin allergies?

- No.

- Perfect.

(singer vocalzing)

- The experience of
shooting a sex scene is,

like, the least sexy
thing in the world.

(machine buzzing)

* Ba, ba *
(hand rubbing)

- [Zoe] They will have
a modesty garment on,

which is a very
small pair of panties

that has no sides and no back.

- [Zoe] Some people
are very nervous.

It's not something
they do every day.

- [Director] And action,
it's a rehearsal.

(bed creaking)

- [Jessica] It's also strange
because you usually just meet,

and there you are
touching each other

and laying all over
each other.

- [Director] One, let's have
her on top now, roll over.

- [Director] That's great.

Hold there.

- [Jessica] With rehearsal,

we just kind of walk
through the steps.

- [Director] Okay,
now start over.

- Here's the position, or
now they're on the couch,

or now you're sitting here.

- Go right, left up, down,
spin in a circle and land,

and then the guy's gonna
yank your head back.

- You don't go to
school and learn

how to, you know,
choreograph sex scenes.

- [Crew] Cameras rolling.

- I was on set and
was working on a film

that required quite
a bit of nudity.

The DP tried to sneakily and
very slowly move the camera

so that it could shoot
the lower part of me nude

as well as the upper part.

Every day that I went
to work after that,

I thought about, how
much had they shot

that we hadn't caught?

- Playing an intimate
scene with another partner,

you know, is awkward,

and not intimate at all,
and very disconnected.

When I watched it,
the nakedness

of my body being turned

into an image for
anyone to see,

suddenly I realized
my body wasn't mine.

- You're simulating sex,

but there's only so much
simulating you can do.

You can't simulate a kiss.

You have to really
kiss someone,

and you have to really
touch their naked body.

Like I almost, when I
have had to do sex scenes,

and I've done many, it's
almost like I go into

a blackout,

like I just have to
get it over with.

I wake up that morning
with so much dread.

- Oftentimes, I did
what I normally do

when I get freaked out.

I just kind of leave my body
and float up to the ceiling.

- [Sheryl] My first tendency
is almost go numb to it

because it's too intense.

And yet, if I do that,
then I'm not present,

and I'm not doing
the best work as an actor

that I can do.

(actors breathing heavily)

- With American puritanism,
it's hard to talk about sex.

Sex is taboo.

It is the realm of real
people in real bodies having

relations with one another.

That's not so comfortable
to the filmmakers.

- Say mercy.
- No.

- Come on.
- No.

- Say mercy.
- No.

- The first sex
scene I ever did was

on my first feature,
"D.E.B.S.,"

and I was so nervous.

- Nobody feels comfortable
talking about sex, period.

(laughs) Nobody
feels comfortable

saying they're uncomfortable.

- It's a moment of intimacy.

- Trying to have, like,
a 10 minute conversation

with a director or a
producer to be like,

"So, you're are okay
with these things?"

check, check, check is not

a very thorough way to
define your boundaries.

- There is so much shame
around the body,

around desire.

There are a lot of directors
who don't know how to talk

about sex because it remains

this forbidden
area of our lives.

(door thudding)

(dramatic music)

- Oh, God, oh, Jesus Christ.

- [Linda] The 1960s
and the early '70s were

the era of sexual revolution.

Everything was changing,

and with the rise of hardcore
pornography on big screens,

the avant garde like
Andy Warhol's art films

and the Europeans
leading the way,

I think it just became
absurd for movies to pretend

that the era of the code
was still operating.

- Mom. this is John.

(upbeat music)

- [Linda] The world of
European sexual liberty-

- He is.

- and American prudery
sort of come together

in the career of Jane Fonda.

- Man, you sure
do look different.

- Oh, boy, you not only don't
talk much, you don't say much.

In the first part of my career

when I was playing
ingenue roles here

in the United States,

I was never asked to
take my clothes off.

I mean, this was late
'50s, early '60s.

It wasn't until I went
to France (laughs)

under the guidance
of Roger Vadim.

I fell in love with him, and
I eventually married him.

I knew what I was
getting into.

He never made a movie where
women weren't undressed.

So, I knew that was coming
along, and it did,

and I did it.

(upbeat music)

Roger promised me that
he would use the letters

of the titles to cover
the important things,

which was only
partly realized.

I was utterly terrified.

I was 30.

I should have known better,

but I was at a
place in my life

when, if you were
asked to do something,

especially by a man,
you did it.

(upbeat music continues)

I didn't know anything
about nudity clauses,

and contracts, and all
those other things.

I just did what I was told,

and so I just got drunk
(laughs) basically.

- Now, it was possible to
play with different rules,

but the different
rules were not

a whole lot different
from the old rules.

I think these early films show

how, for men, sex is a
very homosocial relation,

whether it's Jon Voight
and Dustin Hoffman

in "Midnight Cowboy,"

- [Linda] or Art Garfunkel
and Jack Nicholson

in "Carnal Knowledge."

- What do you say?

- [Linda] What the man
is often doing is proving

his virility to his
friends via a woman.

Breasts were now completely
available for looking at,

but male frontal nudity
was really frowned on.

- Real portrayal of
romance and intimacy

as it's practiced
in life weren't part

of the American
cinematic lexicon

for decades, and
decades, and decades.

(upbeat music)

And suddenly, when censorship
lifted in the 1960s,

we went from having
romance without sex

to having sex without romance.

(lover moaning)

- Oh, yeah, wait, why don't
you turn out the lights?

(confrontational music)

- In the '70s so-called
blaxploitation films,

you see a lot of sex, drugs,
lots of female nudity,

and these different characters

who were not Sidney
Poitier being accepted

into a white world.

You have bad-ass heroes,
right, Black heroes.

They spoke to the
Black Power movement

and the Black
feminist movement.

- You want me to crawl,
white motherfucker?

- What are you doing?

Put that down.

- You wanna spit on
me and make me crawl?

- The people loved
it (laughs).

We were breaking all
kinds of records.

- [Stephane] Black women
were, quote, "sex goddesses"

for the very first time.

- For our hue, it was new.

How many love scenes did
you see of us in any movie

during that period
of the '60s and '70s?

None.

- But, of course,
there was controversy

from the very beginning.

- (laughing) Hey.

- There's harems
of women who are

at the disposal of these men,

which really highlighted
their sexual bodies,

(funky music)

sort of an extreme
voyeuristic eroticism.

* Live any let die *

- Turn around slowly.

- [Stephane] Course,
you had Gloria Hendry,

who was first Black
woman being a Bond girl.

- Oh, beautiful, brave,
and now resourceful.

- [Stephane] It was
really a watershed moment.

(peaceful music)

But the film only goes so far.

- [Gloria] I think that the
white people were scared

of the repercussions
of their base,

having a black actress
wind up with Bond.

- Oh, James.

(dramatic music)

(dart whooshing)

- She's killed, of course.

A Black actress couldn't
possibly wind up with Bond.

(brooding music)

- Out of 5,000 pairs
of legs, I was chosen,

and I thought, "Wow, no
one's ever gonna know

that it's me on the screen."

It was just like a cattle
call, and they were like,

"Your legs, yes.

Your legs, no.

Your legs, maybe."

- [Director] Okay, let's
bring in the body double.

Okay, good, stay
right in there.

- Hi.
- Hi.

- I'm Mindy,
pleased to meet you.

- [Actor] Nice to meet you.

- Our body is on the
film that you're seeing.

You're there to make the
actress look perfect,

(water pattering)

perfect legs, perfect
breasts, perfect body.

- I think the public would
be shocked to find out

how many hands aren't
really the hand

(laughs) of the talent or
the butt of the talent.

- Kim Basinger, Madonna,
Barbara Streisand.

In "Pretty Woman," the
whole opening scene

where she's getting dressed
to meet Richard Gear,

that's my body.

Body doubling is
really hush-hush.

- I was Janet
Lee's acting double

in the shower scene
of "Psycho."

You don't see her face.

That's me.

(creepy music)

(bather screaming)

That's the back of my head,

my hands, my arms,
my belly button.

(dramatic music)

Janet Lee wrote her
biography, and she let on

that she did the whole thing.

(clicks tongue)
Pissed me off (laughs)

that I wasn't recognized.

(fire crackling)

- In "Rising Sun," I was
the live body sushi plate.

(glass shattering)
(residents screaming)

- [Police Officer] Police.
- SWAT team was breaking

through the window,
and I'm there nude

with the sushi on me,

and I remember
looking away saying,

"I'm not gonna get
cut by the glass."

But if your a body double,

they pull you out
like a chicken dinner.

You're like, "Bring
out the breast,

bring out the thighs,
bring out the leg."

They just think, "Oh,
you're just there."

You're just kind of not real.

(mouse clicking)

- Somebody in the producing
department wants there

to be less smile lines,

(mouse clicking)

so it aged her down slightly.

My work consists of
visual effects, generally,

but a lot of requests
I get from clients is

to do beauty work.

(mouse clicking)

She's got her little mole
here, just sample it

and erase it.

Removing blemishes,
freckles, pubic hair,

slimming people up,
making 'em look younger.

It was a heavily guarded
secret when it first came out.

Now, most people on television
and film get it done.

As far as making
somebody look younger,

it's mostly a
request for women,

cleaning up, like, bags under
the eyes or neck wrinkles.

I get asked to do face
replacements a lot,

and usually, that has
to do with stunts.

So, if there's a stunt double,
and their face is visible,

then we put the actual
actor's face on the stunt.

But they're
starting to do this

more often for
beauty purposes,

so you get a stunt
body or a body double.

In "Game of Thrones," it
was somebody else's body,

and her head was
literally stitched

right on top of that body.

There was a request that
came in from a client for me

to remove a postnatal belly

because this actress
had just given birth.

So, that was just a
matter of taking her body,

rotoing it out, cutting
it out, squeezing it,

and then basically
putting it right back on

and cleaning up the background

wherever her belly
would've been.

(mouse clicking)

This is before,
and that's after.

(mouse clicking)

Actors and actresses buy
into it, and they persist it,

and they ask for it
because they believe

that this is important,
and this is needed,

and that we need to
portray our best selves.

We should all be looking
like China dolls.

You know, we should all
have flawless faces.

- Whatever we do, we always
wanna look our very best.

- I don't respond to
ultra beauty in my life.

I like flaws, and I like
to see natural people.

I feel like I'm
part of the problem

instead of the
solution for that.

(bathers chattering
indistinctly)

- Dammit, it's Barbara McNeil.

- [Mick] In American movies,

(footsteps plodding)
- Mind if I join you?

- [Mick] there has
always been limits

to who's allowed to be sexual.

(bather sighs)
(water sloshing)

- I worked for a television
producer earlier in my career,

who, when we were casting
day-player roles, said

"There are no fat
women in my shows."

And I remember, at
the time, going,

"Wow, like, he's created
a whole universe,"

and it's true, in his brand,
there are no fat women.

I'm fat.

That's not a bad word.

And I am fat naked and
in front of a lover, too.

I only see that as a joke.

- I get it.

You're self-conscious
about your body.

Don't worry, I was gonna
shut the lights off anyway.

- But then it causes
for us to be like,

"Turn off the lights.

Don't see me."

What we see on
the screen affects

what you take into
the bedroom.

- You're cool with going
out the back again, right?

- Um.

- It is very few, very few,

extremely rare, and far
between to see people

with disabilities in
sexual situations.

So, people don't genuinely
think that it exists.

- I don't want you to
miss all the things

that someone else
could give you.

(dramatic music)
Luisa.

- I once told my manager,

"I'm not gonna play
anybody in a hospital.

I'm not gonna play
anymore lawyers

or desexualized trans people,

and I'm not gonna play anyone

who visits anybody
in a hospital,"

and I didn't work
for two years.

So, if I keep
taking the hormones.

- You'd be feeding the cancer.

- Are you saying, if I
become a woman, I could die?

- In Hollywood, exclusion
is part of the story.

- Hey, try this.

- [Angela] When
I was a teenager,

there wasn't that much
queer representation at all.

- So, what do you think?
(utensil clinking)

- You'd, like, scour
the video store

for, like, obtuse glances
between women on video boxes.

- In the "Color Purple,"
these women love each other.

They see each other sexually,

but doesn't go full
on into sex scenes.

(brooding music)

- [Lover] You two
have met, haven't you?

- [Angela] Or, it's about some
weird male fantasy spectacle.

- And we have to
remember the sensors are

white, cisgender,
heteronormative men

who said, "Look, if
you're gonna do this,

if you're gonna be naked, we
wanna see two women together

'cause that's art."

Right?

Penises are pornography.

Tits are art.

(singer vocalizing)

- Film has been

men showing other
men what they see.

- What is visual pleasure?

- It's not actually about
watching two other people.

All it is is about
the male fantasy.

- I don't know anything that
I saw growing up that told me

that I could have the agenda

of being the one who
wanted the pleasure.

Nobody actually tells a
woman that, when she has sex,

you know, there is a space

where she gets to
have the pleasure.

She's not the one
just giving pleasure.

- How women are satisfied,
what that looks like,

how that works in real life,

like, it's still a mystery,
I think, to so many people.

(singer vocalizing)

- [Lover] Tell me
what you think.

- Think about all the movies

where men would be having
an important conversation-

- Here's to old friends.

- and hot women would just
be sitting at the table

while it's happening just,
like,

kind of just there
as decoration.

- This round's on me.

- [Joey] The way in
which women can just be

kind of present but
unnecessary.

- You be the man,
and you be the woman.

- You had to cast
those two girls,

and they had to sit there
fake fucking all day,

and it's kind of
a bummer (laughs).

- I think it really does
damage to girls in particular.

That's what bothers me,
girls feeling that they have

to behave a certain way
and look a certain way.

Without even consciously
realizing it,

they will just assume
that they are less than.

That they don't
quite count as much.

- The more that we
perpetuate and condone women

as being merely sex objects,

the more readily boys
grow into men thinking

that that's how women
wanna be treated.

It's in every movie and TV
show they've ever watched.

(dramatic music continues)

(footsteps plodding)

(passenger whistling)

(passenger whistling)

- Actors who are starting
out are used in these films

that ask for nudity
and sex scenes

because they don't know how
to advocate for themselves,

or they don't have the power
to advocate for themselves.

An A-list actor who's
asked to do a nude scene,

they can have a body double.

They get to say, "The
light has to be dim,

and the actor can only
touch me from here to here."

It's like I have never had

that much
protection in a film,

but I've done nudity a lot.

(laughs) Like, I've
done sex scenes a lot.

It's like, "Oh, you
have to pay your dues,

and you just have to
be grateful

that you're here at all."

- I'm not some great,
fabulous beauty.

When I walk into a room,
people don't turn around

and go, like,
"Who's that girl?

Put her in the picture."

- I started taking classes at
James Franco's acting school.

When James took a chance
on me, I was so grateful.

The way that I got hired
for "The Long Home" was

by getting a text
message from James.

(camera clicking)
He said,

"I want you to be in my movie.

Nudity will be required.

You're playing a prostitute.

Do you wanna do it?"

(camera clicking)
And I said,

"Absolutely, like, no
questions asked, yes."

(dramatic music continues)

- Hey, Candy, they want you.

- And then, things started to
sort of get a little tricky

because there were some scenes
that were added that weren't

in the script that
required nudity,

and one actress
didn't wanna do it.

The next thing I know,
she's on a plane back to LA,

and she's not in the movie.

And I realized, if I
do something like that,

if I say, "I'm
uncomfortable with this,

I don't wanna do this,"
I'll lose my job.

- Sarah Scott
is an actress

whose most recent work
includes

an appearance on the Seth
McFarland show "The Orville,"

and she played Courtney Love
in the film

"Soaked in Bleach."

Thank you for
having the courage

to come in and talk to us.

This is an incident that
happened in May of '18, 2018.

- Mm-hmm, it's an
independent TV pilot.

It was the last
scene of the day.

(phone buttons clicking)

I remember being
really cold that night

and made mention of it.

My scene partner
cuddled up to me

and said he would
keep me warm.

Knowing that we were
about to start kissing,

I just kind of went with that.

That was fine.

He cuddled up to me, and
didn't think much of it.

At that point, he took
my hand under the covers

and brought it over
to his erection.

(characters breathing heavily)

I pulled my hand back

and looked back over my
shoulder, like,

And he just said, "Sorry."

(Sarah S. sighs)

I've thought a lot about this.

I'm not upset with myself

that I didn't do
something in the moment.

I'm very well aware
that that's very common.

A lot of the women I've spoken
to don't ever say anything,

and I think being in a
professional setting,

I also just wanted
to be a professional

and keep going and
finish the day off.

- Cut, terrific.

- And so, after the
day had wrapped up,

and I was getting ready
to leave for the night,

my co-star walks
through my dressing room

and starts telling me
that he's got a hard on.

He's gotta go jerk
off in the bathroom.

When I turned around, he
had taken out his penis

and started to masturbate
in front of me,

two feet in front of me,

and that's when I left.

- So, he did, however,
in the "LA Times," give

a statement saying that
he was apologizing.

He said he admitted
that he had put

your hand on his penis
during a sex scene,

but he said you were
sexually aggressive.

- It was really disturbing
to see what a convincing case

he made in playing
this sort of doe-eyed,

innocent, embarrassed,

"Oops, you know, I
misread the situation,"

and then even used the words

that, "I just mistook this
for a perk of our jobs."

It just became so clear
to me that I was dealing

with someone who
was a a predator.

(somber music)

I've been a proud union
member for over 15 years.

That's how
I have my health insurance

and support my family.

So, the way that I
see myself is

that I'm kind of a
blue-collar working actor.

- Okay, ladies, I
wanna see ya dance,

and I wanna see ya smile.

And you.

- I started to get this
feeling like I was

the first actress

to ever call the
union and say,

"Hey, I've been sexually
violated at work."

- It's interesting because

the SAG-AFTRA
basic agreement is

800 pages or
something like that,

and nudity is, like, a page,

if that.
- Hmm.

It's like-

- Yeah.
- Wow.

It's, like, I
literally have it-

- Wow.
- Right here on,

it's half a page.

It's this.
- Wow.

(Amanda laughs)
- And sexual harassment is

not mentioned in 800 pages.

- Really?
- Yeah.

- [Sarah S.] Mm-hmm.

- [Amanda] Yeah
- Interesting.

- Yeah.
- Hmm.

- The situations, like,
that I've been in,

I think that, like, the
gentleman, you know,

whatever happened, it
wouldn't have happened

had I been more famous or
more powerful than than he.

I was told by someone in the
legal department verbatim

that, quote, I "probably
wouldn't be satisfied

with the result of
the hearing."

And I interpreted
that as basically

nothing's gonna happen.

(somber music continues)

When the "LA Times"
article came out,

a lot of actresses reached
out to me just telling me,

(sniffs) you know,
how proud they were

and how,

how many actresses had
similar experiences

but never said anything,

and that made my stomach turn,

just the realization that this
is such a widespread problem

in this industry.

(singers vocalizing)

- What does it mean
for boys and girls

to grow up in a culture
where they see men

being aggressive in
film to get the girl?

They pull women into
these passionate kisses.

- Stop it (inhales deeply).

- Maybe she resists a little
bit, like, right at first,

but he can kiss her
into submission.

(dramatic music)

- Wait a minute,
wait a minute.

- [Stephane] Now that's
a really common scene.

- [Linda] Hollywood
certainly knows

how to do violence
very, very well,

much better than it
knows how to do sex.

When sex and violence
come together, it's rape.

- (breathing heavily) No, no.

- There's so many
rape scenes in movies

because a lot of
times, you know,

scripts are written,
and they imagine

that this is the only way

a female character can get
strong is if she's raped

for no apparent reason
other than they think

something bad needs to happen
to her so she can rise up

and go murder all the
people in revenge.

What kind of message
does that send out?

- My name is Buck, (laughs)

and I'm here to fuck.
(machine beeping)

- Your name is Buck, and
you came here to fuck.

Right?

- Wait a minute, wait.

(door thudding)
(orderly yelling)

- There's some hatred
for women going on

when you have to brutalize
people, you know,

and treat them as
subhuman but then

get the glory that you create
strong female characters.

That's not strong women.

Those are brutalized
women that have to survive --

- and look good while doing so.

(dramatic music)

- In the age of the Internet,

actors have to make
these decision of,

"If I'm nude, it's
going to get GIF'd

and played on a loop."

You can't regulate
that anymore.

(fingers tapping)

The nudity will get repurposed
to do all sorts of things.

They'll put other
people's faces on.

(laptop clicks)

It's kind of not what
they signed up for.

(dramatic music continues)

- You have to literally
go and fight them

on every single website
these things appear on,

and even if you win,

the next day, it shows up
on a different website.

- The producer basically
responded by saying,

"This is just what happens.

This is part of
being an actor."

(pensive music)

- When "Jennifer's
Body" was coming out,

we were at a new point
where we were seeing

how social media can be used
as a tool to shape perception.

In the film, I wanted
to comment on the tropes

around how we look at
girls and women's bodies

looking back at late '70s,

early '80s horror slasher films.

But what that requires
is using the tropes.

(vampire howling)

(victim yelling)

There was a decision on
the part of the studio,

I think, to market
the film to young boys

as opposed to young women

as if to promise
something with Megan Fox

that they were
never gonna get.

(crowd cheering)

I was shocked by the reaction

and the way social
media kind of worked

so quickly against the film.

(keys clattering)

(dramatic music continues)

(messages bleeping)

(keys clattering)

(message bleeping)

There was so much
adolescent angst

about some lack (laughing)
of male relevance

(dramatic music continues)

and I think, since
then, we've seen

how much warfare is
waged against women

by using their
bodies against them.

- Now, uh, pull your dress
up and let me see your legs.

- The Hollywood machine is
something to be survived.

(light clicking)

- [Boss] Turn around a second.

- Something wrong?

- Matter of fact, everything
is very, very right.

- It's very common
to go to hotel rooms

and to be asked to audition.

(dramatic music continues)

That was kind of a thing
back when I started.

- He's ready for you.

- Thank you.

(door clicking)

- I was raised to believe
(laughing)

that you never wanted

to make a man uncomfortable.

(shoe clicking)

You didn't wanna make

him feel like
(bather yelling)

he had done something wrong.

- He grabbed me,

tried to kiss me.

- So, if he advances on
you, you know, your thing is

to kind of giggle and ease
yourself out of there.

(character laughs)

- After I got blacklisted,
I started being harassed

behind the scenes
by my monster.

(dramatic music)

- He, he has
detectives on staff.

(light clicking)

(crew chattering indistinctly)

- Harvey Weinstein
is not the only one.

We have situations now where

it's taken a while for a client

to be willing to come
out against somebody,

and you know, the
studio makes excuses.

- I can file a complaint for
you if that's what you want,

but I think you know
how it would come off.

- You see all the people that
protect Harvey, this predator,

and the many, many predators
there are in this town

that are very big
guys in the business.

(crowd chattering
indistinctly)

- [Sarah T.K.] There
are so many other men.

(door slamming)

They're not Harvey Weinsteins,

but I don't wanna wait

until these people are
all Harvey Weinstein.

I want them to
stop doing it now.

(secretary screaming)
- Dorothy, please.

Look, I want you.

- Men feel entitled-

(light clicking)

- [Crew] You probably just
wanna try to do (indistinct).

- [Crew] Okay.
(case clicking)

- by a lot of stuff that's
rolling around in their heads

that has sexualized women

and embraced them as sexual
commodities to the extent

that they feel
comfortable doing that.

(dramatic music continues)

- If you're wearing
something, please get naked.

- I believe in only
two things,

the First Amendment and boobs.

- She needs to drop a few.

- [Host] What do you
think about this?

- Gretchen's beautiful.

- Ooh, beautiful,
you look beautiful.

- I love the women's movement,

especially when
walking behind it.

- You know, when you're
sold as a sex symbol,

it's like the message that men
out there in the world get is

that they can all touch
you and that they own you.

- It makes her a slut, right?

- He began running
his hands over my body

and grinding into me.

- [Rose] Because
you've turned them.

- Nice, nice.

- [Rose] You've
made them do it.

- [Donald Trump]
You can do anything.

- [Interviewer]
Whatever you want.

- [Donald Trump] Grab
'em by the pussy.

(interviewer laughing)

- [Crowd] Oh.
- You can do anything.

- [Bystander] Yes.

(crowd cheering)

- It really didn't feel that
there was a system in place

for this kind of a complaint.

- [Senator] How sure
can this committee be

on the accuracy of
your statements?

(body thudding)

- What you wanna do is
destroy this guy's life.

(gate clanging)

- Are you interested
in writing a book?

(body thudding)

- Nobody has made amends.

- [Bystander] Shame.

- Nobody has apologized.
(bell ringing)

Nobody has taken ownership-
- [Crowd] Whore, whore.

- [Sarah T.K.] of
having done this to us.

(hands thudding)
- Categorically

and unequivocally
deny the allegation

against me by Dr. Ford.

- I have not been guilty
of sexual misconduct.

- The allegation is
completely false.

(character grunting)

- These allegations are false.

- It's just not true.

- Not true.

(dramatic music continues)

- [Sarah T.K.] It can't
just be on our shoulders,

and we can't continue to
be gaslit by these people.

We're made to feel like we're
crazy for being uncomfortable.

- [Speaker] No, no.

- Nasty one.
- I undressed her.

- Where things go.
- In fact, he never did.

- [Speaker] He would
sit here and watch it.

- I have no idea

who this woman is.
- It is today.

- Are you a scorned woman?

- All right, you
guys ready to move

into a little bit
of rehearsal?

You're gonna be
taking off her shirt.

- Okay.
- And from what I understand,

it's a pretty wide neck,

- Yeah.
- so you shouldn't have

any issue just coming
up and pulling it over-

- Mm-hmm.
- Jennifer's head, yeah.

And then, as we discussed,
you will take your bra off.

- Mm-hmm.

- You know, you can-
- Yeah.

- position yourself on
the edge of the bed here.

- [Jennifer] Yep.
- Right.

Maybe you could
place Dan's hand

somewhere on-
- Yeah.

- your upper inner thigh

on the left leg.
- So, like, maybe right here-

- [Dan] There?
- would be fine.

- [Dan] And then here.

- [Jennifer] Yeah.

- Okay, move your
head a little bit.

And you can cheat it so that
your head is not so turned.

Yeah.

- [Dan] And then I'll rest it

right here.
- and I'll be like this.

- [Sarah S.] Great.
- [Dan] Mm-hmm.

- Love to see you
touching his head,

tugging on his hair a little.

- [Jennifer] Okay.

- [Sarah S.] How does
that feel for both of you?

- [Jennifer] I'm fine.
- [Dan] Yeah.

- Okay.

Okay, great.

(funky upbeat music)

- On season one, we had
a moment where there were

some criticisms of our
lead actor, James Franco,

for stuff that had
happened not on our set

but had happened on indie
films that he had worked on.

But nonetheless, I
felt the need

to ask all the
principal cast members,

"Did you have any
problems on our set?"

Emily Meade rather
bravely said,

"Things didn't go
right on set.

One day, I'll tell
you about it."

(gentle pensive music)

(door clicking shut)

- [Bystander] Whoa, baby.

- I was playing a
prostitute turned porn star.

I was 26.

And I was starting to
realize how much I was having

to constantly dissociate
to, like, show up to my job.

- [Actor] Oh, that's,
yeah, oh, yeah.

- There were circumstances
where I wound up having to do

a very intimate sex scene

with a completely
random background actor.

I was not willing
to be on the show

with things the way they were,

wanting to protect the
women involved in this show.

- Emily basically said,
"We can do this better,"

and then it was
our job to listen.

- The best thing I
could come up with was

that there should be
a person who is there,

who their sole job is
to facilitate, protect,

and just be there for sex
scenes

like a stunt coordinator.

(gunshots blasting)
(victim grunting)

(gun thudding)
(body thudding)

- God.

- There are entire
departments of people

who are there to make
sure nobody gets hurt

when we're
simulating violence.

(wheels screeching)

But we hadn't, to this
point, hired somebody

whose sole area
of expertise was,

"Let's make sure
nobody gets, you know,

emotionally hurt or
physically hurt, you know,

when we're
simulating intimacy."

(defiant music)

- I'm there to make
sure the actors are safe

but also to check
in and make sure

what is happening
on set is consensual

and what is happening
is what was agreed to.

- I don't wanna
disappoint anybody.

That was probably always
the hardest part for me,

having to, like, look
someone in the eyes,

a man specifically, and,
like, disappoint them

about what I'm willing
to do sexually.

She could go tell
the director, like,

"Emily's feeling a little
strange about this,"

warn the director of that
so they can roll their eyes

or have whatever private
(laughs)

reaction they want to,

and I don't have to see it

and (laughs) feel
insecure or embarrassed.

- Let's go, sweetheart.

(footsteps plodding)

- It was just the process
of having that conversation,

and feeling like I
had a choice,

and like I wasn't in a corner.

- All right, first
up is Lori and Andy.

- "The Deuce" wound up being

the first network
television show

to have an intimacy
coordinator,

and then HBO wound up being

the first network to have

network-wide intimacy
coordinators used.

- There are certain things

that might have been acceptable

five years ago, 10
years ago, 20 years ago

that are not acceptable now.

And I think it took Time's Up.

It took Me Too.

It took this entire
shift for people to look

at scenes like this and
say, "We can do better."

(dramatic music)
(glass shattering)

(bat thudding)
- You're gonna listen to me.

- Wait, hey, Dorothy.
(bat thudding)

- whether you like it or not.

(dramatic music)

- There's clearly
a deeply entrenched

terror of male privilege
(case rustling)

and power being taken away.

- I'm not gonna be stopped
by three dumb-witted broads.

- I wanted to show
that you could

cut off the head of power

instead of biting at ankles,
that, if everybody is

always kind of complaining
about the same thing,

maybe we can do
something about it.

(machines churning)

(dramatic music continues)

- I do feel optimistic,

but Hollywood is
definitely sexist,

definitely racist place,

and it's going to take a lot

to dismantle those systems.

- The Me Too movement
ushered in a greater level

of the magnifying glass.

That long-held
patriarchal power

in Hollywood was rendered

vulnerable really for
the very first time

in a very real way.

- Harvey Weinstein
surrendering to police-

- Leslie Moonves's-
- on sex crime charges.

- career at CBS came to an end

in September-
- Chief Roy Price has

been suspended
- after multiple women-

- in the wake of-
- came forward.

- sexual harassment
accusations from-

- James Franco snubbed by
the Oscars in the wake-

- The Screen Actors Guild
found actor Kip Pardue

guilty of serious misconduct.

(dramatic music)

(footsteps plodding)

(actor breathing heavily)

- I think that many films
have women in peril.

Some Prince Charming
has to come and save us,

(footsteps plodding)

and we come to believe
that we innately don't have

the power to save
ourselves, but we do.

(energetic music)

(character speaking
in foreign language)

- [Patti] Women are
finally finding a voice.

(energetic music continues)

- Before doing "Vida," I
hadn't experienced too much

in the roles of getting to
play an American like me,

a Latina like me.

(gate clanging)

(lover moaning)

It is by design that we
are seeing a woman pursue

her sexuality and pleasure in
a very unapologetic fashion.

(lips smacking)

- We haven't gotten a
chance to, us, like, create

complicated images
of ourselves,

and these girls I created
were, shitty, messy.

They made really
bad decisions.

(camera clicking)

Dominant culture gets to tell

all that, you
know, all the time.

(vocalist singing
in foreign language)

- When do we get to say it?

(energetic music)

The sex scenes started
in the writer's room.

These girls, they knew
exactly how to get off,

what they wanted.

(vocalist singing
in foreign language)

- It progressed the story.

It wasn't just gratuitous.

- Tanya brought me into the
editing room just to make sure

I was completely
comfortable with the way

that certain things
were being shot.

You know, "Is this all right?"

- Okay?

- [Mishel] It's nice to have
somebody checking in on you

even after the fact.

(dynamic music)

- "The Sex Lives of
College Girls" is

about freshmen
college suitemates

who are navigating
their sexuality.

- So, how does this work?

(pulsing dance music)

Do we just take our
clothes off and go inside?

- Fuck it, I'm going in.

I have a disability.

My character, clearly, will
also have a disability,

but who my character is is
not predicated on the fact

that I'm a disabled woman.

Honey, I pull.

Hey.

It's still about my sexuality.

- Do any of you know where
a girl named Sarah is?

- No.

- Sorry.

- I don't.

It's the most refreshing
thing to have a character,

especially a wheelchair user,
be sexy, be sex positive,

be sexual, to be seen
as desired and loved

because we deserve it, too.

(bright energetic music)

- There was a time in
my life when I felt free

(character moaning)

Ow.

(infant suckling)

Ah, Jesus.

- I always knew that it
would be noisy to make a show

about female desire
and sexuality,

about a woman who wants sex,

who admits she's had sex,

that she wants to have more
of it, and not punishing her

for her desire is in
itself a revolutionary act.

When you make that
woman a mother,

it is just charging straight
into these opinions in society

that martyrdom is the
ideal for mothers.

* Each morning *

- [Child] Morning, mommy.
(air whooshing)

(hands thudding)
(mother exhales)

- I also felt like we
cannot tell this whole story

and just not even have
one shot of a penis.

(intense music)

We put it in the cut, and
the Netflix executives were

very nervous about
it and asked us

to consider taking it out.

They were concerned that it
would be off-putting to women.

Not heterosexual
women (laughs).

(pensive music)

- I think everything I've
been doing has been an attempt

to investigate the male gaze,

all these ways in which the
camera has kind of stood

in for an assumed
masculine protagonist

and to to kind of reset
it, saying, you know,

(sultry music)
"I'm the subject.

You're the object."

Consent doesn't have to be
this kind of,

like, mushy thing

that's, like, shrouded
in questions about

shame and gender.

(sultry music continues)

When I'm filming, I'm
always wanting to, like, put

the camera into the place
of the character's desire.

So, it's like, instead
of taking the camera

up here or out here, I'm
always,

like, literally imagining

the camera moving down
into, like, the gut.

(lover breathing heavily)

- Joey really opened
up in me my sensitivity

as a human being translated

into what I could
bring to the camera.

(relaxing music)

The camera's approach
is honoring the

space for the actors.

Joey would say that I had
a mussy and would say,

"Jimmy, shoot from
your mussy,"

'cause I don't think that
a man only has a male gaze,

or a woman would only
have a female gaze.

(lover moaning)

- I wanted to be naked

because, first of all,
that had never been done.

- All right.

- And the second reason
was that I wanted to show

this relationship and
these two human beings are

just like, they
have conversations

after people take showers,
and they're naked.

(sighs) We can't
afford any more bills.

I can't believe I
have to say this.

Trans people
actually have sex.

We have sex with other people.

Isn't that weird?

I know, strange,
but it's true.

(sultry music)

Everybody is doing
this thing called love.

- I'm really
interested in pursuing

the notion of female desire,

(sultry music continues)

be it ambition, or sex,

or romance with the idea
that there is a subjectivity

and often a voraciousness

that comes from a
female perspective.

(mellow music)

- In terms of making films,
the most important thing is

women have been doing
this forever, you know,

that we're not the first.

Women were putting the
camera in a place of empathy,

yearning, longing, wanting.

- [Stephane] There is a
rediscovery

of lost Black films

that celebrate
romance and intimacy.

These films have
always existed.

(vocalizing)

- It's changing.

- You can feel it.

You can feel it in
the writer's rooms.

You can feel it
talking to producers.

When I'm on the set of
"Grace and Frankie,"

half the people
there are women.

Trust me, when I
started out in '58, '59,

there wasn't a woman,

except maybe the script
supervisor, on the set.

We're making vibrators
for women with arthritis.

- Yes, vibrators.

- We're making things
for people like us

because we are sick and
tired of being dismissed

by people like you.

- Mic drop.

- Okay, come on in.

- [Stephane] I'm hoping
that there will be

a more seismic shift
happening more rapidly now.

- Hey.

(crew member speaking
indistinctly)

- Yeah, sure.

- I think we need more-

- [Stephane] You'll see more
women green light a series,

(ladders creaking)

- to green light a movie,
(metal scraping)

and when you see that,

you'll see more movies
that empower women.

(slate clicking)

- Okay, and cut.

- Actresses, for
the first time

since I would say
the 30s, have power.

- Men want to be
looking at women

in the way that you look at
a protagonist in a movie,

which is as yourself.

- And for some reason,

I think men weren't making
that kind of transference.

Now, it's happening.

- The beauty of film, and
television, and media is

that we have the ability to
reach people's living rooms.

And when you see somebody that
maybe doesn't look like you,

but emotionally, you see
yourself

reflected in that way,

all of a sudden, that person
becomes more familiar to you.

- We have consumed, for a
very long time, ourselves

outside of our own lens

that we are still figuring
out what that means.

- I think Hollywood is

no longer just a place
of entertainment.

I think that the power
that Hollywood holds is

so great that it should
put its power to good use,

which is representation.

- Hey, check this one out.
(projector clattering)

- And I think nudity and sex,
it's a really beautiful way

to show things
without telling them

and is a vital part
of storytelling.

And I actually feel
better doing it

with an intimacy
coordinator now.

- I have done something and
been involved in something

that is important and I hope
permanent in this industry,

and, yeah, it's
pretty surreal.

It's really, it feels
very good (laughs).

(energetic music)

* I'm feeling myself *

* I'm feeling myself *

* Can't even lie *

* I'm not that
thing on the shelf *

* I'm feeling myself *

* I'm feeling myself *

* 'Cause I'm doing it
better than anyone else *

- [Joey] We're just
getting started.

- All right, fellas.

- Getting the cameras into
the hands of the people

who want them and
deserve them.

- [Speaker] Fuck yeah, mom.

- Women don't stay
silent forever.

- Some women will see some of
these amazing pieces of work

by women and start to
kind of center themselves

in their lives, you know?

But it's not filmmaking's
job to do it.

It's the world's job to
center female pleasure.

It's the world's job
to understand consent.

You know, it's not female
filmmakers' job to teach it.

We got enough to do.

(joey chuckles)
* I'm feeling myself *

* I'm feeling myself *

* Can't even lie *

* I'm not that
thing on the shelf *

* I'm feeling myself *

* I'm feeling myself *

* 'Cause I'm doing it
better than anyone else *

* Feeling myself *

* I'm feeling myself *

* Can't even lie *

* I'm not that
thing on the shelf *

* I'm feeling myself *

* I'm feeling myself *

* 'Cause I'm doing it
better than anyone else *

* Feeling myself *

* I'm feeling myself *

* I'm feeling myself *

* I'm feeling myself *

* (vocalizing) *