In the wake of #MeToo, intimacy coordinators have become an industry standard in film and television to help actors navigate shoots of sexual and intimate scenes. For Cynthia Erivo, that became a major help in her latest movie, “Prima Facie.”
In the film directed by Susanna White and based on Suzie Miller’s Tony-winning one-woman play, Erivo plays Tessa, a defense barrister in England who rose from a working-class background to earn a Cambridge degree and now is deeply respected at her firm as she is often tasked with representing defendants accused of sexual assault.
But her assured outlook on her career and her life is changed after a date with her co-worker, Julian that culminates in a sexual encounter that starts consensual and then crosses the line into assault. Now having to work in court with the man who assaulted her, Tessa starts to question whether she has perpetuated a system that allows abuse to go unchecked.
Talking to TheWrap at the Toronto International Film Festival, Erivo gave a shoutout to the intimacy coordinator for “Prima Facie,” Lizzy Talbot, for helping guide her and her co-star, Daniel Ings, through the difficult rape scene.
“You have to skirt the line from being intimate in a loving way to getting to that point and to going to the darkest places, but I think it’s the coming back from the darker places that became a challenge,” Erivo said. “We were lucky because we had an amazing intimacy coordinator in Lizzy Talbot who just put things in place for us to be able to dive as deep as you can, but find a way to come back.”
Ings agreed that the prospect of taking on a role where his character does something so unspeakable was daunting when the opportunity was first presented to him.
“I had my doubts about taking on the role because of the physical challenge of, portraying somebody who commits this violent sexual assault, knowing that would be an intense experience for both actors,” he said. “But I just knew that this was an important story to tell, this was the way to tell it, and these were the people to tell it with, so it was just a question of putting on my big boy pants and being brave about it.”
White praised Erivo and Ings for their performance, showing how for many women who are assaulted, it comes at the hands of someone they trusted.
“The early part of the movie plays a bit like a rom com. You’re really invested in the relationship, and you want it to work until it takes a turn,” she said.
“Prima Facie” has been acquired by Sony Pictures with a release date to be announced.
