The "Sense8" Psychic Orgy | How The Cluster Sex Scenes Got Made

This episode we're breaking down one of the most ambitious sex scenes ever put on television. We're diving into Sens8, the Wachowskis' globe-spanning Sci-Fi drama that somehow turns a psychic orgy into one of the most sensual scenes we've ever covered.

From gym workouts and hot tubs to morning cuddles and group intimacy across continents, we're unpacking what makes this sequence so memorable and why it still feels unlike anything else on TV.

We get into it all:

• The surprisingly complicated consent questions that come with sharing other people's experiences
• The challenge of choreographing a massive multi-location orgy without rehearsal
• The actor's experiences behind the scenes and how an intimacy coordinator could have helped

Plus: German bathhouses, intimacy coordinator wedding hacks, Britney Spears throwbacks, and an extended discussion about what happens if someone in your cluster decides to have sex during your grandmother's funeral.

Want to watch along? 

Our reaction covers the orgy scene in Season 1 Episode 6 (Demons): 32:08-39:32. 

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CREDITS — SENS8 (S1E6 "Demons")
Creators: Lana Wachowski; Lilly Wachowski; J. Michael StraczynskiDirectors: Lana Wachowski; Lilly WachowskiWriters: Lana Wachowski; Lilly Wachowski; J. Michael StraczynskiProducers: Grant Hill; J. Michael Straczynski; Lana Wachowski; Lilly Wachowski
Actors (featured in discussed scenes): Jamie Clayton; Freema Agyeman; Miguel Ángel Silvestre; Alfonso Herrera; Brian J. Smith; Max Riemelt; Tina Desai; Doona Bae; Tuppence Middleton
© 2015 Netflix / Studio JMS / Anarchos Productions / Georgeville Television. All rights reserved.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hey fakers, quick note that we ran into a sound issue with the last 12 minutes of this episode. Ariel did an amazing job bringing it to where it is, but if it sounds a little like she's trapped in a well, that's why. Thanks for understanding. So they would need to sync up their calendars so that they could have a heads up. Because a eulogy is a heightened emotional state. And if someone else is like, I'm gonna go to a sex party, then that's happening at your mom's funeral.

SPEAKER_00 0:31

Yeah, the repercussions are rough, dude. I'm Ariel Lee Cohen.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

Hey, I'm Morgan Smith.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

And we are the hosts of Faking It with Ariel and Morgan.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

We're two intimacy coordinators here to talk about the spicy scenes you see in film and TV.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Let's talk about your wedding. You just got married. Yeah. You feel I'm good.

SPEAKER_01 0:55

I'm so tired. It's so funny because I feel like everyone talks about how stressful planning a wedding can be. And we definitely had like some stressful moments throughout the process. The last couple of months were the most stressful. It's sort of like a film production or a theater production. Kept telling Cameron, like, we're in tech week. Everything is coming to a head. And parts of it feel like it's not going to come together. Random problems come up that you're like, oh my God. And then it's fine. A lot of people don't talk about how after the wedding, you're exhausted for an extended period of time. Partly because you're coming off the high of the wedding. And also because like all that built-up adrenaline from the tech week period is also dropping. And so Kim and I, we had a mini moon in Palm Springs. We gotta rest a lot during that. But even like coming back to LA, like I have been pounding down these like your Ba Mate drinks. Like it's my life.

unknown 1:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:59

Sponsor us.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Sponsor us. Keep me awake.

SPEAKER_00 2:05

I have not gotten married, so I don't know. But my assumption is that that is how it feels after producing like a feature film or a season of television. You're like, I had so much to focus on, so many and like small little tidbits that kept coming up, and this problem we'd have fixed, and this problem we'd fix. And once it's done, you're like, I have nothing left to give.

SPEAKER_01 2:25

So depleted. I mean, it's always so amazing to be in a space where you have so many of your favorite people, and that's why we decided to do a wedding as opposed to just a loping or just a civil ceremony. The energy that you're getting from those people, because on a film set, you don't usually show up and everyone is like, I love you. Not usually, you know, and we all love each other, and like just and the focus is so much on you and all the love that you're like receiving. It's so it's beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 2:56

So many folks at your wedding have listened to this podcast. I felt such love from our audience. So thank you folks for coming up to me and saying hi. It was really, really sweet and gratifying. I was basically half dead because I had come off of an overnight, but I was like, I'm here, I'm ready, let's do this.

SPEAKER_01 3:17

Wait, can I tell you um a really funny, like icy, nerdy thing? As you know, Kim was wearing this silk slip dress. She was having a hard time finding underwear that she could wear with it that wouldn't show. But you had them. So I was like, wait, what if you wore a modesty garment? Did she? She wore a strapless thong because it didn't show any lines. And she because she was like, I don't want to be going commando on my wedding. That feels weird, even if nobody knows. So I was like, have a solution.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

What brand did you go with?

SPEAKER_01 3:52

Oh, I did one of the Tuckets.

SPEAKER_00 3:54

Beautiful, waterproof, fantastic. Yeah, great.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

Waterproof, very necessary. We were sweating a lot. She was really comfortable. It was so funny too, because I was reading on these different website blogs, like, you should have an emergency kit with like a needle and thread and fashion tape, and they were listing all these other things. And I was like, I have a lot of that stuff like in my kit.

SPEAKER_00 4:17

It's like in your car, like just like ready to go.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

So I just brought the top part of my intimacy coordinator kit and filled it. I had deodorant wipes, I had the double stick tape pasties.

SPEAKER_00 4:29

I don't know how everyone feels, but get married to an intimacy coordinator. I think that's that's some of the lesson here. I have to add to this as well that my kit came in handy for your wedding, also. Really? Not to that degree, but uh my outfit was very flowy and uh very low-cut. I have a larger chest, and I was like, I need to tape all the time. The girls were out. They were out and ready to play, and I was like, they need to be a little more in. So um I used, I want to say, a pound of super sticky tape, and I also used two tucket kits because I used one for each breast, and I like both cut the tips up, up on my shoulders, they went. Later when I pulled it, I took it off.

SPEAKER_01 5:20

It was like trying to like pull it off so funny. Oh my god, I did have a moment when um Kim and I were getting ready and it was time for her to put the modesty garment on. And I've done this with actors so many times where I run down the whole thing, like, this is how you put it on, you need to squat while you do it. So that way, whenever you move, it you'll have enough space for that. Uh, here's the tape, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then all of a sudden, I was telling Kim, and I was getting so nervous and flustered and forgetting things. And I was like, wait, no, I need to go back. First, you need to wipe with an alcohol wipe. And I was like, I'm sorry, it's an emotional day. Like, I'm off my game.

SPEAKER_00 6:01

You're like, don't take this as me being an intimacy coordinator. I'm focusing on other things right now.

SPEAKER_01 6:06

Usually I'm not marrying the actor that I'm giving the kit to. I mean, not usually. Not usually.

SPEAKER_00 6:16

All right. Well, anyway, I think that is an imperfect segue into our project for today, which is Sensei on Netflix. Yay, 2015. Now, Morgan, what is your experience with Sensei?

SPEAKER_01 6:36

It's been on my list to watch since it came out, and I have not watched it yet.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

Yes! Oh my god, you're going to love it. It is important to note in Sensei that there are two orgy scenes throughout the TV show that involve almost everyone in the cast. All right. Sounds like my kind of show. Right? Yeah. No intimacy coordinator, of course. Today we're gonna watch season one, episode six, which is called Demons. It came out in 2015. It is really complicated plot-wise. I'm not going to lie to you. And this is episode six, like a lot has happened, and there's a lot of characters and a lot to focus on. So I'm gonna limit this. But basically, eight strangers across the world have formed a cluster of what's called sensates, which are human beings who are basically connected emotionally and mentally, and they can sense and communicate with one another. They can even like exist in the same room mentally, even if they're thousands of miles apart.

SPEAKER_01 7:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 7:49

But they can also feel each other's emotions and feel each other's senses and use each other's skills. So if one of them, for example, is very good at boxing, someone who has no experience boxing, they can kind of like inhabit their body more or less and be really good at boxing.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

It's like a matrix moment where you're like, I know kung fu.

SPEAKER_00 8:07

And it's amazing that you said that because this was also created by the Wachowskis. Okay, yes. I did know that.

SPEAKER_01 8:15

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 8:15

So you're gonna get all the things basically that they wanted to put into the energy of the Matrix, and they just went, I would say balls to the wall, but they went all genitalia to the wall on this one.

SPEAKER_01 8:29

If we ever make merch.

SPEAKER_00 8:37

Like on the wall. Yes. That's cute. Pouches. Specifically for this scene, contextually. Several members of the group of sensates experience sexual moments together apart. I would normally put all the actors and characters listed in the scene here, but just go on IMDB, there's a lot of them, and it's gonna just take too much time. So this was written by Lana and Lily Wachowski and J. Michael Strazinski. So I think we're gonna try something new this time around. Normally, when we go through the action, we would describe what's happening as we go along. And we want to try something new where we just react in general and then explain what happened after the fact. So let us know if you like it. Let us know if you want us to go back to the old way. So time code for this scene is gonna be 3208 to 3932-ish.

SPEAKER_01 9:38

There's some cute morning cuddles. I like it.

SPEAKER_00 9:41

I like the casual nudity happening right now.

SPEAKER_01 9:45

Work it out.

SPEAKER_00 9:47

So this is Leto and his partner. He's the closet enactor.

SPEAKER_01 9:50

Okay. They're very strong, guys. That's good. So they're a couple. Cute. I love a little kiss on the head while you're doing weights. I don't know if that form is okay. That makes me worried for his lower back. He's gonna like herniate a disc or something. Oh, hello. Okay. That was a nice little dance in the sweatpants. Wait, was the sweatpants guy in the closet? Because that was a very not closeted behavior.

SPEAKER_00 10:19

The dancing guy, but though the woman knows that they're in the closet, but she's fake dating him.

SPEAKER_01 10:26

Now we're doing a hot tub moment. She's totally naked. Oh, so it's like an all-genders spa situation.

SPEAKER_02 10:37

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 10:38

That's cool. Wow, he's got every muscle. Oh, he must have not had any water for like 48 hours.

unknown 10:44

No.

SPEAKER_01 10:45

The poor man. The things actors have to do. Yay, kisses! Oh my god. I love how intimate they are when they're lifting weights. This is making me so happy. Whoever thought it'd be so romantic. Now we're grabbing booty. Nice. Yes, these two muscular gym rats love each other, and she's filming it. Okay. Good touch. He's putting his hand on his chest. Is she gonna join? I love a beardy kiss. Oh, she's gonna stimulate herself while watching them. What gym is this? This is they're these is across the world. Oh, okay. So not everyone is necessarily physically in the same space. This is insane though, because like what if you're out to dinner with like your grandma and then the other people you're connected to are having sex? Like they're lucky they're all sexual right now.

SPEAKER_00 11:40

That does actually come up later in the show. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 11:44

Now he's feeling the sex that they're having. Now she's in the hot tub. Now she's in the gym with him. Oh my god. How do you get anything done? They're all in wildly different time zones. Like people could be having sex anytime. And now everyone's in the hot tub together. Hot tub sex is a lot harder than people think it is. There's so much happening. Now they're all mushing. Oh my god, it's beautiful. It does look like a painting. I'm in love with that. Kissing his face and his chin. They look like sculptures. This is really gorgeously done. Oh my god, it looks like I'm a slave for you, the video, but like where it looks like that video was heading. Whoa. Yeah. And everyone's gonna orgasm together. This is the one time I'll allow for a simultaneous orgasm being. He's just chilling. So we're seeing all these characters in their respective places and their respective countries. Like one couple is starting to have morning sex, one couple is working out at a gym, another guy is at a spa. And then slowly, as some of them start getting sexual, they all start getting sexual in their respective spaces, and then they start blending, and then they're all in a big orgy together, which is gorgeous. And then it ends and they're all back in their respective spaces.

SPEAKER_00 13:15

There's a moment where the guy who's in the gym bringing the dumbbells up incorrectly, he's doing a deadlift. Deadlift. Thank you. I don't go to the gym. Um I probably should. Um he's doing the gym stuff incorrectly, and he orgasms at the end of that scene. He's alone and he's in a public space.

SPEAKER_01 13:37

He's like ejaculates. See, this is what I'm saying. Like, I love the idea of being connected, but I'm like, wow, the logistics of that. Thank God he was just in a hot tub alone. I mean, it sucks that he ejaculated in a public hot tub. I don't know how they're gonna sanitize that. But and I don't know if he was in a bathhouse where like people have sex here, so we kind of all acknowledge that the water's not gonna be clean. It's in Germany. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 14:06

Probably clean, probably they extra clean it, is my guess.

SPEAKER_01 14:09

Germans have orgies too and have probably have bathhouses too.

SPEAKER_00 14:14

But I'm saying they super clean them afterwards.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

Oh, yeah, totally clean.

SPEAKER_00 14:18

Yeah, you're right.

SPEAKER_01 14:19

That's probably true. So they would need to sync up their calendars so that they could have a heads up because a eulogy is a heightened emotional state. And if someone else is like, I'm gonna go to a sex party, then that's happening at your mom's funeral.

SPEAKER_00 14:39

Yeah, the repercussions are rough, dude. Um, eventually they get each other's phone numbers.

SPEAKER_01 14:45

I feel like eventually I feel like I'd immediately be like, okay, who are wait, okay. All right. So I I'm coming into this so late. I have so many questions.

SPEAKER_00 14:55

It's okay. Go for it. Do it.

SPEAKER_01 14:56

Why did you not get each other's contact information? Like, once you figured this out. Or did you feel like we don't need it because we're connected, like mushrooms are?

unknown 15:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 15:07

First of all, they weren't like 100% sure that they weren't just experiencing schizophrenia for a while. They're like, I don't really know that these other people exist. It's only like because two of them connected their phones that they even were like, oh, this is actually happening because they speak to each other on the phone. They pass the phone to somebody else. They're all adults. They're all adults. Yeah. They're all adults.

SPEAKER_01 15:27

It'll get complicated if a minor is in the cluster.

SPEAKER_00 15:30

If I'm remembering correctly, I think they're all the same age. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:34

They look like they could all be about the same age.

SPEAKER_00 15:36

So they're all the same age.

SPEAKER_01 15:38

Got it.

SPEAKER_00 15:38

What I do think is interesting is that scene where he's in the tub and there's that naked woman walking nearby. I'm pretty sure that's one of the sensates, but I can't actually tell because I don't see her face enough. So I think it's not a co-ed spa, but it's possible that it is. It's really hard to tell.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

I feel like most spas try to separate the genders. So my guess. Who knows?

SPEAKER_00 16:02

And also, as Americans, we are prudish. The Germans are not. As we know. That's so true.

SPEAKER_01 16:09

Americans compared to most other countries, like how we have all kinds of pyritanical shit about sex. You're right. I should know this because those are my people. Or half of Germans? I'm half German.

SPEAKER_00 16:21

I'm a little Austrian. Also, a good amount of our fans are from Berlin. So hey guys. Hey, what's up? Hey Berliners! Tell us in Germany.

SPEAKER_01 16:29

Do the saws segregate based on gender, or is it free-flowing? Like, how freaky is it there? Yeah. And is it like just Berlin?

SPEAKER_00 16:41

Is it specific to Berlin? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:43

Let us know in the comments.

SPEAKER_00 16:44

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 16:45

Thank you for reminding me of that. I forgot that we have a fan base in Germany. We do. Like a fair amount of you are in Germany. What's up? Guten Morgen. Guten Morgen. Yay! Kim Lem saying that. When I told her that my name means morning in German, like the good kind of morning. She like gets so excited every once in a while just being like, Guten Morgen.

SPEAKER_00 17:10

That's a classic joke, and I love it. Classic. My name means Lion of God. It's different. It doesn't come in that much.

SPEAKER_01 17:17

So much cooler.

SPEAKER_00 17:18

Let's go back to sensei. I think that we should watch it one more time.

SPEAKER_01 17:22

Yes.

unknown 17:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 17:23

And I'll try to describe what the fuck is going on. I love how we came up with this for maybe the most challenging scene to do this with.

SPEAKER_00 17:36

No, I love it. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

It's baptism by fire. I'm all for it.

SPEAKER_00 17:41

Fucking go.

SPEAKER_01 17:43

Naomi has her leg over Amanita. I actually love this cuddling position. It feels so intimate. She's whispering in her ear. It's starting to get a little more heated. She gives her a little kiss.

SPEAKER_00 17:58

Macy Gray.

SPEAKER_01 18:00

Oh. Gotta have some Macy Gray. Now Nomi has rolled Amanita over. We can see that Amanita is topless. I think it's implied that Nomi's not wearing any underwear or anything on the bottom. I think so. But she has a shirt on. And now they're kissing more. Nomi's moving on top of her. And now we're in a gym. And we have a bunch of guys working out together. Okay. Now we have these two guys. One is lifting dumbbells, the other is spotting him and also like caressing him, which is very cute. We're back to, I think, the straight guys who are working out separately and doing a very straight guy workout where they're very far from each other. The weights are at an angle on his back. Okay, and the gays are doing good form. And they're also doing sweet kisses on the forehead as they're spotting. The straight guys are finishing. He's lifting his dumbbells in what I think is a funny way. Oh, that's so rude. Don't just drop your weights in a gym. That's like a rule. Okay, now the gays are doing like a sexy dance in gray sweatpants. We love. They're out on this gorgeous balcony. And now the straight guy is alone in the gym. The other guy is chasing after some ladies. Now there's another guy hanging out in a hot tub in a spa. A naked woman is walking in from the light. Oh, and this is in Germany, right? Okay, we see that he's fully nude. We see frontal nudity. Now we're back to the gays who are dancing on their balcony. He's got some moves. Okay. Back to the straight guy working out by himself. The gay guys are kissing. The straight guy is still working out. Oh, and now he has someone spotting him and caressing him with like soft little kisses on his cheek. Who knew workouts could be so fun? Now one of the gay guys is groping the other gay guy's buttocks. We got kisses on the back of the neck, head leaning back. There's a woman filming them on her phone. She bites her lower lip as she watches them caress down each other's bodies. She drops her phone gently, puts her finger to her lips, and then moves her hand under her workout shorts to start pleasuring herself. Still daytime out on a balcony where people might see if they're in a building high enough. Okay, now we're back with Nomi, who's taken her top off and is on top of her partner. Says she's gonna make love to her. And now Nomi is kissing a guy, and a guy is kissing Nomi's partner. The two gay guys are kissing each other, the other guy's just in the hot tub, chilling. The straight guy's working out by himself, but as he comes up for a lift, he starts to feel something. Now Nomi's in the hot tub with the guy. Straight guy working out has Nomi kneeling in front of him. Hands are caressing. The two gay guys are together on a bed having sex. Now the whole group of them is in the hot tub. Everyone's just slowly joining in on everybody else's scenes. Now we have orgies happening all over the world between all of these people of all different sexualities, but all very traditionally hot bodies. There's lots of muscles happening, lots of kisses between people. It's just the I'm a slave for you set. Like I can't, I don't know what else it is. The straight guy is having a very happy ending to his workout, multiple orgasms happening in different places. It sounds like they're very intense ones. Oh, and he's like still relaxing. Did I do it?

SPEAKER_00 21:53

I thought you did a really remarkable job because that was not an easy task you just did. Oh my god. So I do have a piece of information that I think is helpful. There was an article in Refinery where Jamie, who played No Me, talking about the orgy scenes, she said, no rehearsal. It took a long time in the sense, like it's filmed in different locations. She said, So we did it in San Francisco, and then we move on, and the whole production moved to Chicago, and we're filming it again in Chicago. And then all of a sudden it's Tuesday. We're like, oh, we're shooting that again. And then you shoot in Chicago and then you film for months. And it's like, oh, we're doing that again in the next location. So you have to keep shooting it over and over in every city.

SPEAKER_01 22:39

I mean, the Mexico City one looks like it is in Mexico City. Amanita's room could have theoretically been a set, but yeah, also if they're like shooting on location anyway. That's like a lot of travel. It did feel very seamless.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

Yes, it did. Crazy work for something that had no rehearsal.

SPEAKER_01 23:00

Yeah, I mean, the level of choreography, the level of comfort that the actors would have to have with each other, and for that to look consistent between all the different locations is really remarkable.

SPEAKER_00 23:13

In Out.com, Clayton and Sylvestri, who are two of the actors, revealed it was a complicated puzzle. They said it was mainly just Lana Wachowski offset telling us, okay, Jamie, go in. Okay, now Jamie, go out. Where the hands would go, who they should kiss. Most of them were just in cocksocks. And he basically implied that it was restrictive. He said, I felt I should kiss Jamie in that moment, but maybe it was Brian who I had to kiss, but I don't know. It was confusing sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 23:43

Especially because you have so much space in between when you're shooting different parts of those scenes. You kind of have to rely on the director, who's also probably heavily relying on the script supervisor to make sure that you're matching the movement from other locations.

SPEAKER_00 24:00

The impression I'm getting from the quotes I found from the actors, it seemed like while they had a good experience generally, it was confusing and stressful. And I think that having a rehearsal or several might have really made this even stronger and made it a just a better experience for the actors overall, where they could have been like, okay, now I have this in my head. So now no matter which location we go to, I know the flow.

SPEAKER_01 24:28

You treat it like a dance. You figure out in one neutral rehearsal space, or maybe on the first set. We don't always have time to do a separate rehearsal day, but like you kind of lock it in one place and then you just keep repeating that. So that way it feels like you're going back to something familiar instead of being told what to do in the moment, which can feel weird.

SPEAKER_00 24:49

Don't get me wrong, Wachowskis are incredible and are absolutely phenomenal creators and directors. But I do think that for an actor, it adds another layer of stress to an already extremely vulnerable space to just have actions yelled out.

SPEAKER_01 25:07

It depends on the actor too, because there are some people who can like take direction as they're going and it doesn't take them out of it. This is the first season, they're still getting to know each other. I'd be so curious to hear like what it was like filming it the first time versus by the time the final location happened, how things felt different.

SPEAKER_00 25:25

I mean, we'll get into it in the spice scale, but my god, it was shot so beautifully.

SPEAKER_01 25:30

The Machowski's killed it.

SPEAKER_00 25:32

Paintings.

SPEAKER_01 25:33

Truly, I felt like I was in a museum in one of the sculpture exhibits, Greek or ancient Roman sculpture garden. All of it was so intentionally done. And this could have easily been a messy scene that just felt chaotic.

SPEAKER_00 25:52

And a second kudos to that editor. My God. My god, yes. I can't imagine what your life was like during this. But Joe Hobeck and Joseph Jet Sally, good job. Good job, editors. You killed it. This was not an easy feat.

SPEAKER_01 26:07

Shall we get into the spice scale? Welcome to the spice scale, our not-so scientific way of writing intimacy scenes based on consent and power dynamics, technical craft and coordination excellence, and heat factor. Each category gets a score from one to five, with five being the highest. Then we add it all up to give the scene a final letter grade. Let's start with consent and power dynamics. How the scene depicts consent and power in the story, and if known, behind the scenes. I haven't watched the show. I don't really know the backstory of any of the characters. I'm assuming the initial parts, that's all consensual.

SPEAKER_00 26:49

I do want to talk about uh the Mexico City group. So the woman who's there is Lito's beard for his film career. So she knows that he's in a relationship with this other man. Nobody in the world besides them basically knows that. And so she takes pictures for herself. That doesn't go so well later.

SPEAKER_01 27:11

Wait, why does she take pictures of them?

SPEAKER_00 27:14

Because she's sexually interested in them as a threpple, basically. So there is a strange power dynamic in that specific circumstance.

SPEAKER_01 27:23

They're all on similar planes in terms of power dynamics because it's all supposed to be like everyone just kind of coming together as opposed to like one person being the leader or multiple people being more submissive. In terms of consent, does this bring up some questions for you? Because everyone seems good with what's happening, it worked out that everyone was in a situation where they could become sexual and it wasn't gonna negatively affect them. But yeah, how do you consent? Because based on what you were describing, it sounds like people don't always have a choice about when they connect.

SPEAKER_00 28:02

Yeah, they don't really always have a choice about when they're connecting and when they are not connecting. In the Wachowski's world they've built here, everyone's a little on the spectrum as far as sexuality. In these orgy moments, some of the more straight-leaning characters are cool in the homoerotic energy. Heteroflexible. Yes, heteroflexible, yes. But they are usually depicted more in a straight space. So, like Gorsky, who's doing the bad gym business. That's a bench press. Thank you. So when he's doing the bench press, Leto comes and like kisses his forehead and then like kisses his lips. He's not against, but he is surprised. I would offer questionable consent here. Not just in that moment, but also the woman who's taking the picture. They don't know about that in the Mexico City group. That's weird. They're not aware of that necessarily happening. I would give this first scene a three for consent and a five for power dynamics. It lands at a four for me.

SPEAKER_01 29:09

Yeah, I can see that.

SPEAKER_00 29:10

Four. All right. Technical craft and coordination, excellence, the staging film coverage, modesty, protection, choreography, and overall execution of the scene. I have thoughts. I have thoughts. Tell me your thoughts. My understanding is that they were not wearing barriers. I don't know that to be true, but when the actors describe it, particularly those with external genitalia, they say they were just wearing cocksocks.

SPEAKER_01 29:34

But no barrier in the cocksocks.

SPEAKER_00 29:38

I could be wrong. First of all, it's not SAG regulation. Granted, they are shooting seemingly everywhere but the US, so the union regulations might be different. They may not have shot the orgy scene, let's say, in San Francisco. That may have been shot in like a different country. I don't really know where everyone exactly is, although one of them is in San Francisco.

SPEAKER_01 30:01

Can you quickly, for those who may not be totally clear, the difference between a modesty garment and a barrier?

SPEAKER_00 30:07

Yes. A modesty barrier, a modesty barrier. A majesty barrier. A majesty barrio. Okay, so a modesty garment is a piece of fabric or adhesive that basically will cover the genitalia just so it isn't seen by folks on crew or on set or by camera. But a barrier is a piece of foam, a piece of silicone, something thicker that is to be worn above the genitalia so that there is no friction between one body and another. So if you're wearing a cock sock, it is essentially imagine a sock with a jawstring at the top, and with external genitalia, you just put everything in there and you pull the jawstring and close it tight. There's not a lot of places to put a barrier. You can put one in there, and you should with SAG regulations if you're gonna go in that route. I would argue it's not the greatest option for a simulated sex scene. But given how many bodies are moving in space, I would understand why they would prefer that, because there's less opportunity for the camera to catch a view of the modesty garment. But also, with this high of a budget for production, in post, you can kind of Photoshop that out if you need to. That's why it's flesh tones, so you can take it away. I don't really know what the modesty situation here was. I do know that we only see external genitalia in the sauna in that first scene, with that one actor in Germany. I don't know if that's a prosthetic or if that's him. My assumption is that it's him, but I'm not sure. But we're seeing toplessness across the board. We're seeing buttocks kind of across the board.

SPEAKER_01 31:54

Mm-hmm. Because we don't see any of the modesty garment on anyone. Like we don't know, and it sounds like there wasn't information out there as to what people used. I would hope that they had modesty garments for at least everyone who wanted one. It's tricky because when you're shooting in another country, if it's a sag production, you might still have to go by sag regulation even if you're filming it in another company. So let's assume it's sag regulation just for the sake of this conversation. Sure. They would have to be wearing modesty garments and they would have to have some kind of barrier because you need to be able to meaningfully reduce pressure and you need to be able to reduce the possibility of any fluids passing between people. There's still a world where they did this scene and had modesty garments on everyone, and it worked. Like we didn't see them because yeah, I don't know. Because it's not like someone with internal genitalia like opened their legs to camera in a way that we would see whether or not there was a modesty garment there. You know what I mean? And then that last actor I agree with you. Probably not a prosthetic. One, because he's fully emerged in the water, and that would have been so annoying.

SPEAKER_00 33:03

It would have been very annoying.

SPEAKER_01 33:06

It could be done, but prosthetics are already pretty annoying.

SPEAKER_00 33:10

Could also be CGI if they decided to take that route because he doesn't move basically. So they could have.

SPEAKER_01 33:16

That's true. But I guess it's a solution and it's probably just him. It's probably just him. Yeah. Yeah. So score. I would give this a five. I thought it was so gorgeously done. I thought the connection between all the different locations, especially considering that there could have been a huge gap in time, that's so much work. And it felt really organic. I know some of the actors may not have felt that way in the moment, but to me, it read is pretty natural feeling.

SPEAKER_00 33:47

Give it a four because of what we know about the actors and the lack of rehearsal and the surprise. And I do also feel like it sometimes reads like, Now go over there, now go do this. The overall it is stunning and gorgeous. I also, of course, need to complain about the authenticity of one specific moment. Yeah, tell me. Which is in the Mexico City group, the woman reaches into her underwear, then pulls her hand completely out, and then goes back in. And I found it really strange looking. Yeah. I clocked that too. I also don't know that it was like necessary to tell the story. I feel like she could have looked at them and bit her lip or taken a strong breath and then just joined them and it would have told the same story. But instead it felt awkward to me.

SPEAKER_01 34:40

I was not bothered by the idea of her pleasuring herself while watching them. Didn't feel it was necessary. Right. I mean, whether it was necessary or not, it made sense to me. Putting the hand in and then taking it all the way out. It did feel kind of weird, but I also thought, like, oh, maybe she was like, I want to do this. Maybe I don't. Yes, I do. I don't know if that's the story they meant to tell or not. It wasn't totally clear. Four? Or you want to go for five? I think four is valid. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 35:10

Heat factor, baby. I say fives across the board, everyone, all the time. Fat, fat, fat, fat. As faith would say in Buffy, it's five by five, man. Yeah, five by five. Woo! Okay, we have a B. Woo! Which respect, understood, heard, fine. These scenes matter because, like, this is the first real depiction of this level of eroticism with this many different kinds of bodies, this level of diversity, pretty much ever on television or Netflix specifically. It's the joy of this true sexual freedom, the aesthetics of bodies in space, and really feeling like we're all the same, like we're all just bodies in space, and let's enjoy being alive and life and connection. And it's just really nice to see the joy.

SPEAKER_01 36:12

Such a great example of intimacy as connection. And I love that it's done with a group of people. I feel like a lot of times when we see group scenes, the emphasis is on the sex, on the lust, and maybe not as much on the emotional connection to it. They don't always feel as sensual. It's more for like the spectacle of a group of people having sex together. And I really appreciated that these scenes were not that.

SPEAKER_00 36:38

One day we'll show the dichotomy of this between this and the scene in the boys where they have a big orgy. And it's very much just about fucking.

SPEAKER_01 36:47

You know what I mean? Which that's fun too. That can be fun too.

SPEAKER_00 36:51

And it's also switch it out. Yeah, no, and that also was done by an amazing intimacy coordinator, and it's a very well done scene. It's just the vibes are very different.

SPEAKER_01 36:59

Well, I love it. We should totally talk about that. That sounds fun. Morgan, you have a fun plug, I think, right now. The feature film I intimacy coordinated on, Find Your Friends, is going to be released on Shudder. So by the time this episode drops, it's already gonna be streaming. Love it. It was the writer-director Isabel Paxad's first feature. She did a great job. Everyone did such amazing work. It's also a fun movie where it's these four party girls being as unapologetic and as vulgar and as free as they want to be. And I love that in a thriller they don't get punished for it. So that's really refreshing and cool.

SPEAKER_00 37:43

Well, thank you so much for listening to Faking It. This episode's research and context was done by me, Ariel.

SPEAKER_01 37:49

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SPEAKER_00 37:57

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SPEAKER_01 38:06

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SPEAKER_00 38:13

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SPEAKER_01 38:33

This episode was produced by Ariel Lee Cohen, social media and branding by Morgan Smith. Our theme song is Faking It by Mike Getz. Credits for the film or show we reacted to are in the episode caption. Stay real, fakers.