Nudity & Intimate Scenes in Casting Calls

When a casting call says it might include nudity or intimate scenes (sometimes called adult scenes), what does this mean in reality? This article explores these kinds of productions from the point of view of the actor and what it means for you.

First off, we’re not talking about porn here, let’s make that clear. Instead, when a mainstream production talks about nudity it’s a catchall term which covers a lot of possibilities including:

• Partial nudity: an actor in their underwear or maybe topless; it might even be in their swimwear
• Full frontal nudity: an actor – usually female – showing her naked breasts
• Full nudity: an actor completely naked; it’s rarely a close up but usually just a medium or long shot showing the body

And as far as the scene itself, you might be completely alone and it could be completely non-sexual, e.g. having a shower or sunbathing or climbing out of bed or it could be a lot more.

When it comes to intimacy, the scene might involve anything from a chaste kiss (mouth closed, a quick peck on the lips) between two actors right up to simulated sex.

So there’s a lot of scope here. It could be the protagonists of The Dreamers wandering casually around their flat with no clothes on. It could be the highly intimate but beautifully filmed scenes from La Vie d’Adèle. It could be Barbara Windsor in Carry on Camping. It could be Kate Winslet posing for a sketch in Titanic. It could be Hugh Grant kissing Andie MacDowell in the rain from Four Weddings & a Funeral.

In fact, think of almost any film and there will be at least one scene which could be defined as containing some form of nudity or intimacy from an actor.

The bottom line is this: if a casting does ask for nudity/intimacy in a role, do not assume that it will be full on nudity and sex, it could be something so chaste a nun would wonder what the fuss is about. Or it could be something more…

So don’t dismiss a job just because it says there’s nudity or intimacy involved.

Our advice is to submit and then ask the production explicitly what they mean by these terms. Any legitimate production will come back to you and explain in detail exactly what’s involved.

Once you have that information you’re in a much better position to decide if the job is right for you. If it is not, then no worries, politely decline the offer and move on. If it is, then fine!

But whatever happens, there should be no naked auditions!