‘Taken’ Star Blasts TV for Too Much Sex, Violence: ‘Some Things You Don’t Need to See’ (Video)

“Once you’ve seen one pair of boobs, you’ve seen them all,” “Vikings” actor tells TheWrap

Clive Standen, the star of History’s “Vikings” and NBC’s upcoming “Taken,” says that action movies and television rely too much on gratuitous sex and violence, a fact that he said turns viewers off.

“I think in TV we have a responsibility to tell a story,” the actor said in an interview with TheWrap’s Stuart Brazell. “And it should come from conflict and drama rather than just noise.”

Standen argued that nudity or violence that isn’t rooted in character and story won’t engage viewers in the way that great art can.

“It’s very rare that when we watch an action TV show or a film that we come forward in our seat and we’re in it,” he said.

“The only way we can do that is if it’s story and it’s character. It’s the same with sex scenes. You have to show another facet of the character in one of those scenes. Otherwise it’s just noise.”

“Once you’ve seen one pair of boobs, you’ve seen them all,” he added.

Standen stars in NBC’s upcoming series adaptation of the Liam Neeson action franchise “Taken,” as well as the History channel’s historical epic “Vikings,” both of which feature a good bit of violence and action.

“Vikings, we describe as being very visceral … but there’s no way the visceral should be coined as the be-all end all,” Standen said. “It doesn’t make it good drama. There’s some things you don’t need to see.”

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