Movie buffs have been left speechless at a brand-new X-rated movie, Babygirl, which shows us leading lady Nicole Kidman like we’ve never seen her before. And, quite frankly, it makes the 50 Shades franchise look tame.
The film — which has already been named ‘the year’s hottest movie — sees Nicole play CEO Romy who, dissatisfied with her orgasm-less sex life with her husband of 19 years [Antonio Banderas], embarks on a steamy affair with her new intern, Samuel [Harris Dickinson].
It’s the reverse of a cat and mouse chase – quite literally when a baby-faced Samuel orders a glass of milk at the bar for Romy and commands that she drinks it. And while we await the sales of dairy products to explode (thanks as well to Nicole downing a glass during an appearance to promote the movie), Nicole has since admitted she’s glad the filming is over – because she had too many orgasms.
While the film simulated the sex scenes, Nicole – who has been married to Country Singer Keith Urban since 2006 – admitted that the ‘frustration’ on set was quite literally, orgasmic.
She revealed, ‘There was an enormous amount of sharing and trust and then frustration. It's like: 'Don't touch me’…There were times when we were shooting where I was like, “I don't want to orgasm anymore”.'
At some points, she admitted she felt like, ‘Don’t come near me. I hate doing this. I don’t care if I am never touched again in my life! I’m over it.’
And while Nicole and the film’s director, Halina Reijn, have rightly been praised for putting female desire back into the spotlight, Babygirl isn’t the first film which has seen the actors come pretty close to the real thing. Here, Heat takes a look at the movies that were so life-like that viewers were left questioning whether the sex scenes were indeed the real deal.
Little Ashes
Robert Pattinson’s explosive sex scene with then-girlfriend Kristen Stewart for Twilight’s Breaking Dawn: Part 1 catapulted him to heartthrob status worldwide.
However, just years before, the actor had already filmed a little-known solo sex scene for his 2008 film, Little Ashes. And, for the love of his craft, R-Patz, who plays artist Salvador Dali, admitted that his intimate scene was completely authentic – even joking that his ‘orgasm face’ would be online forever.
He quipped, ‘My orgasm face is recorded for eternity. ‘[Faking it] just doesn’t work, so I pleasured myself in front of the camera.’
Intimacy
Kerry Fox and Mark Rylance’s 2001 movie Intimacy made headlines around the world when it was discovered that the oral sex scene between the pair was real. The movie starred Mark as bartender Jay and followed him having weekly sex sessions with Claire [Kerry Fox], a woman he didn’t know. And, in a tale as old as time, they caught feelings.
Fast forward to 2013, and Mark admitted that he felt he was ‘pressured’ into filming the X-rated oral sex scene, and as a result, he wished he’d never starred in the movie.
He said, 'Intimacy was the most difficult job I've ever had. I wish I hadn’t made it.’
But, in 2024, Kerry went on record to say she didn’t regret it. She said, ‘In the age of internet porn today, it’s hard to believe the reaction to the film, but it only caused a fuss [in the UK]. In Germany the response was really wonderful and mature.’ And discussing her co-star’s regret, she said, ‘That was the point of taking these risks because you aren't sure how you are going to react.’
9 Songs
Margo Stilley may be best known for her work in How to Lose Friends & Alienate People and The Royals, but she made her big screen debut in 9 Songs – which has been named ‘the most sexually explicit mainstream film ever produced in the UK.’
Released in 2004, the movie charts a relationship between Lisa, played by Margo, and Matt, who was played by Kieran O’Brian, from their first meeting to their split. The movie featured many explicit sex scenes and even saw Kieran ejaculate on camera.
Margot hit back at critics in 2008 when she said of the movie, ‘You'd think I invented sex! I got told I was a whore and a sl*t and how could I do it. It was a film about love and sex. It wasn't porn. I mean, I had sex with my boyfriend last night and that wasn't porn.
It was just hot sex! 9 Songs was a real film about love and sex, and I wanted to do that film and I am proud of it.’
And a year after the movie’s release, Kieran said, ‘It wasn't difficult for me to make and I'm really proud of it. Honestly, I don't know what all the fuss is about. It's a film about two people in a monogamous relationship, having sex as you'd kind of hope that everyone does.’
Antichrist
Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg starred in Antichrist back in 2009, in which they played a married couple whose toddler tragically died. In an attempt to move past their grief, they head to an isolated cabin where things take quite the turn. The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) gave the movie an 18 rating due to ‘strong images of real sex’ which show ‘unsimulated penetration’.
However, body doubles were used for the sex scenes. Not because Willem was afraid too afraid to film them himself, but because he was too well endowed. The movie’s director Lars von Trier said, ‘He has an enormous d**k. We had to take those scenes out of the film. We had a stand-in for him because we had to take the scenes out with his own d**k.’
Seemingly confirming the rumours of the size of his genitals, Willem said back in 2009, ‘Penis? No, it’s not mine. Lars used a porn actor for those scenes. It was a good decision because, if it was me, then that’s all that people would talk about.’
Original Sin
Angelina Jolie is no stranger to sex scenes, even meeting and falling in love with ex-husband Brad Pitt when they filmed 2005’s Mr and Mrs Smith. However, she and Antonio Banderas’ on-screen love affair for erotic thriller Original Sin had fans convinced that they had been intimate on-screen.
However, Antonio later denied the rumours, explaining that he hadn’t been able to touch Angelina during their sex scenes – even comparing them to ‘riding a horse’. What a charmer! The actor said, ‘Doing a sex scene with Angelina Jolie was the same as doing a scene where I have to fall off a horse. You have to make it look real, but it just isn’t.’ He added, ‘I couldn’t touch her, because she had tattoos everywhere and they had to be covered with make-up, so I had to try not to dislodge it.’
Factory Girl
Ever the trailblazer both on-screen and off, Sienna Miller has described her outstanding performance as 60s icon and Andy Warhol muse, Edie Sedgwick, in 2006’s Factory Girl as her ‘breakthrough’ role.
And fans were equally enamoured with her convincing acting, even going as far as to question whether Sienna’s sex scenes with co-star Hayden Christensen – who she was rumoured to have ‘grown close’ to on-set – were real. The reports followed her then-boyfriend Jude Law’s affair with his nanny, which fuelled reports that Sienna had fallen for Hayden – which they both denied.
But Sienna later confirmed the rumours were untrue, saying ‘They [the rumours] are absurd…I get the giggles… [the sex scenes are] uncomfortable…but you know, a large glass of wine, deep breath.’
The Brown Bunny
Perhaps the most controversial of all is Chloe Sevigny’s role in The Brown Bunny, during which the model and actress performs an unsimulated oral sex scene with her co-star and the film’s director, Vincent Gallo. Released in 2003, the film received a lot of negative backlash, but Vincent hit back, saying it was a ‘reminder of the corrupted nature of men when having contact with a less than sober woman’.
Chloe also added, ‘There are a lot of emotions. I'll probably have to go to therapy at some point. But I love Vincent. The film is tragic and beautiful, and I'm proud of it and my performance. I'm sad that people think one way of the movie, but what can you do? I've done many explicit sex scenes, but I'm not that interested in doing any more.’
Gone Girl
Ben Affleck’s sexy scenes with ‘it’ girl Emily Ratajkowski for 2014’s Gone Girl may have hit headlines, but it was the sex scene between actress Rosamund Pike and Neil Patrick Harris that left viewers asking, ‘Did they or didn’t they?’
Speaking of the scene, in which Rosamund’s character Amy seduces her ex-boyfriend [played by Neil] before killing him, the actress admitted, ‘We were in hysterics in the editing room. It was very funny doing it…[Neil and I were left alone] on that set for like two hours to make sure we could do it.
‘But when it's just two of you, basically kind of f*****g on a bed, it feels so inappropriate.’
Power
Ahead of the release of 2016 drama, Power, 50 Cent confessed to fans, ‘My penis is going to debut!’ During the TV show, his character Kanan, who has suffered from serious burns, is seduced before being encouraged to perform an act of ‘self-love’ to…erm…check his hands still work.
The rapper and actor later admitted, ‘I don't give a f***. First it was supposed to be darker [after footage was edited.] You couldn't see it on the screen. [A producer] was like, 'I gotta show you! When you put it on the screen, you can see it’. I don’t care.'