Gwyneth Paltrow’s “irresponsible” remarks about intimacy coordinators criticised by experts

Gwyneth Paltrow‘s comments about intimacy coordinators on set, where she said she felt “stifled” by the presence of one, have been criticised by experts.

Caroline Hollick, a former drama boss at Channel 4, described her remarks about intimacy coordinators as “irresponsible”. Hollick, who now works for Peter Chernin’s North Road as senior VP of international production and development, said at drama festival Series Mania Tuesday that the actor’s comments were “quite an irresponsible thing to say.”

Paltrow made the remarks while speaking to Vanity Fair about her sex scenes with Timothée Chalamet in Josh Safdie’s Marty Supreme, the follow-up to the cult 2019 hit Uncut Gems. She said she felt “very stifled” by the presence of an intimacy coordinator. “We said, ‘I think we’re good. You can step a little bit back,’ ” she told the outlet.

Speaking on a panel titled “Let’s Talk About Sex! (And Consent),” Hollick said: “Every now and then an actor makes a comment over whether they like intimacy coordinators or not. Gwyneth Paltrow said she grew up in a time when [actors] ‘took our kit off and got on with it.’ As a powerful woman in Hollywood acting with a man much younger than her, well I’m sure [Chalamet] is chill but I thought it was quite an irresponsible thing to say.

“Bringing an intimacy coordinator on set empowers an actor because there is someone on side who is there to fight for them. Producers have an agenda, writers have an agenda and directors have an agenda. So having someone to back the performer is important.”

Little is known about Marty Supreme, other than it was rumoured to be inspired by professional table tennis player Marty Reisman, although the studio have denied the film is based on him.

Paltrow explained that her character is “this woman who is married to someone who is in the Ping-Pong mafia, as it were” before becoming involved with Chalamet’s title character, Marty Mauser. “They meet and she’s had a pretty tough life, and I think he breathes life back into her, but it’s kind of transactional for them both”.

Marty Supreme is scheduled for release in US cinemas on December 25, coming to the UK a day later.

Earlier this month, Paltrow praised her new co-star Timothée Chalamet, describing him as “a thinking man’s sex symbol”. “He’s such a thinking man’s sex symbol,” she says of the actor. “He’s just a very polite, properly raised, I was going to say kid… He’s a man who takes his work really seriously and is a fun partner”.

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