Richard Gere Is Not So Sure Intimacy Coordinators “Would’ve Worked” In The ’80s: “We Were Comfortable That Way”

Richard Gere, an actor behind a slew of swoon-worthy roles, has weighed in on the use of intimacy coordinators.

The Agency star broached the concept of intimacy coordinators in an interview with The Wrap alongside his co-stars Michael Fassbender, Jodie Turner-Smith, and Jeffrey Wright.

After Fassbender praised the intimacy coordinator that he and Turner-Smith worked with on the series, Gere asked “how did it work,” noting that he’s “never worked with one.”

Fassbender explained, “You sit down and the director has to say, ‘I want to see this amount of nudity. This is ideally what I would like to see.’ The intimacy person’s there to say, ‘OK, this is what is agreed.; And then you discuss exactly what you’re going to do. ‘Are you fine with being kissed on the neck?’”

Turner-Smith added that “you figure out all the boundaries,” likening the intimacy coordinator to “a stunt choreographer,” roles she feels are “so important.” She said that she thinks “that no actor or actress should ever be in a position where a director comes to them and says, ‘Do you want an intimacy coordinator or not?’” Instead, that the roles “should be treated in the same way.”

After Fassbender agreed “one hundred percent,” The Wrap’s Steve Pond told Gere that intimacy coordinators were non-existent when he was making movies in the 80s, to which he replied, “No. I don’t think it would’ve worked then, to tell you the truth.”

However, Fassbender disagreed, telling Gere, “You just never know what another person is uncomfortable with. And especially for women, maybe in that time it was very rarely a negative time.”

Nonetheless, Gere said they “talked about it then.”

“I mean, that’s 40 years ago, but that’s not the last time I’ve been involved with scenes like that,” he continued. “And we talked about it. It wasn’t like, ‘OK, you two go at it and we’ll see what we get.’ You still have angles, you still discussed the whole process. I just think …”

Wright pointed out that “it can be a slippery slope, depending on who’s involved,” which Gere echoed. Fassbender noted that he has had instances working on intimate scenes “where it’s like, ‘Off you go, guys.’” While Gere claimed that he has “never had that,” Fassbender highlighted the intimacy coordinator’s role as “a mediator” to have dialogue that may initially feel “uncomfortable.”

Gere responded, “See, in the ’80s we were comfortable that way.”

Others have spoken out about the use of intimacy coordinators, such as director Catherine Breillat, who told DECIDER that they “are self-appointed, and have no science behind what they’re doing.” Michael Douglas also questioned the need for intimacy coordinators in a May 2024 interview with the UK’s The Telegraph, claiming that in his experience, “you take responsibility as the man to make sure the woman is comfortable, you talk it through.”

On the other hand, many actors also share Fassbender and Turner-Smith’s support for intimacy coordinators on set, such as Ewan McGregor and Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who despite being married, told the Radio Times that they used an intimacy coordinator while filming sex scenes for A Gentleman in Moscow.

Turner-Smith spoke to DECIDER about her and Fassbender’s chemistry in the Paramount+ with Showtime espionage drama being “just so easy,” teasing, “You know, I personally think that Michael Fassbender could have chemistry with a brick wall, and I feel the same about myself.”

“I really think that I have found a friend in this, in Michael Fassbender, and so I was working with my friend,” she shared. “It was awesome and I was learning so much.”