The late Hollywood actor Donald Sutherland once starred in one of the longest sex scenes ever.
But it proved too controversial for some TV censors, which necessitated it being cut from the small screen. Alongside co-star Julie Christie, Donald appeared in a romp scene for 1973 flick Don’t Look Now – long before his days as President Snow in the Hunger Games.
Donald played John Baxter in the classic flick, which follows a married couple grieving the death of their young daughter. The pair soon come across two elderly sisters who bear a grave warning from the psychic realm. But the scene on most viewers’ minds lasted five minutes – and saw Donald get saucy with Julie’s character.
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The British Board of Film Classification declared the movie way beyond what would be passable to let audiences watch. It gets worse, because fans became sure the stars were actually having unsimulated sex on camera.
(Image: Paramount Pictures)
Julie’s boyfriend at the time, Warren Beatty, even flew out to London where the movie was being filmed and demanded the controversial sex scene be cut. But Julie said it was “lovely” to film.
She said: “I loved the squirming bits and all those things you don’t see. It was just flesh squirming and rolling and touching, and God I thought it was absolutely lovely.” She added that the scene managed to capture the moment “you know you don’t exist, the other person perhaps doesn’t even exist. It’s just bodies that are existing. It wasn’t even necessarily sexy, what it was – it reminded you of making love.”
(Image: Paramount Pictures)
Now Donald has sadly died at the age of 88, it seems the truth about what really happened on set might have gone to the grave with him. But in 2018 he denied the sex was real – calling anyone who thinks otherwise “an idiot”.
He said no take lasted longer than 15 seconds before the action was halted in its tracks, so the actors could reposition themselves. Still, the film received an X-rating in the UK, and was rated R in the USA.
Even producer Peter Bart claimed in his 2011 memoir: “My gaze shifted to the actors, and I was riveted. By their shifting positions, it was clear to me they were no longer simply acting: they were f***ing on camera.”
(Image: Studio Canal/REX/Shutterstock)
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Cinematographer Anthony B. Richmond said: “There was already a great deal of trust between Julie and Nic, who’d done four movies together. And the other thing is that in the script the love scene is an integral part of the movie, it’s not just put in gratuitously.
“We did a good job, it’s very real. People still say they actually made love, but they didn’t.” Various co-stars even denied Bart was even in the room while the scene was shot.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
