The project Jack O’Connell admits made him feel “very compromised”
Many actors have spoken out about films or scenes they hated being part of. When portraying a story and stepping into the shoes of their role, the plot might lead an actor to uncomfortable places. Worse still, some actors find themselves on sets or among a crew that doesn’t prioritise their well-being. Sadly, that’s what happened to Jack O’Connell.
Unfortunately, there are many stories of actors leaving a project feeling utterly distressed by it. There is the infamous story of how Stanley Kubrick treated his actors, especially Shelley Duvall, on The Shining set. Or the story of how Quentin Tarantino’s pushy nature led to a dangerous car crash with Uma Thurman. Luckily, the world of film and TV has started to wake up to the need for better well-being support, but in the 2000s, it was still greatly lacking.
That’s when Jack O’Connell enjoyed breakout success at only 17 in the third season of Skins, Channel 4’s wild teen drama. A chaotic tale of sex, drugs and anti-social behaviour, the show followed a cast of teenagers grappling with issues like addiction, mental illness, sexuality and beyond. O’Connell played Cook, the show’s ultimate cheeky bad boy who had his eye set on Effy, the mysterious and troubled girl played by Kaya Scodelario.
At the time, the show gathered controversy due to its explicit content. It seems that the cast struggled with that fact, too, as O’Connell admits to feeling uncomfortable while filming.
Within O’Connell’s first episode, he was thrown into a sex scene. As a young actor without experience, much like the rest of the cast which was largely made up of new or unknown actors, the lack of an intimacy coach on set made these scenes hard to know how to navigate.
“My career definitely predates the intimacy coordinator age,” O’Connell told The Independent. He was the third Skins cast member to speak out about the show’s lack of well-being considerations, joining April Pearson and Laya Lewis, who also felt uncomfortable.
“It’s hard to say that you’re ever totally comfortable [filming sex scenes],” the actor continued. “Listen, I admit I was very naive at the time, enough so as to not check in with myself and question myself if I was feeling comfortable or not. It just felt like part and parcel of the programme in a very different time than the one we’re in now.”
Without the support of an intimacy coordinator, which is now commonplace on sets to help map out and navigate sex scenes, O’Connell and the cast struggled with the more full-frontal moments. “You feel very compromised and if you don’t feel that you’re protected in that environment, it can be very unnecessarily daunting,” he said.
Luckily, now, more consideration is put into the well-being and comfort of actors. On the current day approach to these scenes, O’Connell feels hopeful, adding, “I think what’s important is that them discussions are being had to make sure that whatever was happening [on Skins] that wasn’t right, it seems, is addressed and doesn’t repeat itself.”
