Hollywood legend Kim Basinger has played every kind of character during her decade-long career. She’s been the love interest of Batman, an unofficial Bond girl, and a BDSM enthusiast, among many others. And while the actress has appeared as some sensual and provocative roles over her long career, she has a controversial view on the need for intimacy coordinators on movie sets.
The actor of films like Batman, 8 Mile, 9½ Weeks and L.A. Confidential, which earned her an Academy Award in 1998, opened up to Variety during a rare interview in which she spoke about her various roles. Basinger spoke about the experience of shooting 9½ Weeks, the steamy 1986 romantic drama co-starring Mickey Rourke where she plays a New York City girl who commits to a BDSM-style relationship with another New Yorker. Think of an 80s version of Fifty Shades of Grey that didn’t evolve from Twilight fan fiction.
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Basinger offered her take on intimacy coordinators on set, something that probably didn’t even exist as a concept during the shoot of 9½ Weeks. While she confirmed that she wasn’t afraid of the film’s sexual content, which was considered groundbreaking at the time, Basinger addressed the emotional toll of making the movie. However, it appears she doesn’t think intimacy specialists are helpful in this regard:
“I can’t imagine having somebody come up to me and say, ‘Do you mind if they put their hand here?’ That’s just another person in the room. Either we work it out or we don’t. I don’t see all of this need for supervised visits.”
Basinger also says that a film of that nature would not be made today (ironically, her last film credits are in the Fifty Shades franchise). She also provided a few details about working with 9½ Weeks director Adrian Lyne and having a few conditions to add authenticity to her role:
“I wanted to meet Mickey Rourke in that grocery store [the one featured in their first scene together in the film]. I did not want to say hello to him before. I didn’t want to talk to him on the set. It had nothing to do with all the stuff you read on the internet about he and I hating each other. I loved him. He’s a brilliant actor too. But when I met him for the first time, it was on film. And I never saw him any other time.”
Kim Basinger Shared Her Take on Guy Pearce’s Allegations Against Kevin Spacey on the Set of ‘L.A. Confidential’
Warner Bros.
In L.A. Confidential, Basinger plays Lynn Bracken, a high-class prostitute who gets involved in a scandal involving Hollywood celebrities. Although she first said no to the role because she had just become a mother, Basinger eventually accepted the part because the script was great. It is, without question, her best performance.
Variety asked Basinger if she witnessed any inappropriate behavior by Kevin Spacey on the set of the film. In recent days, it was reported that Guy Pearce had opened up about being susceptible and becoming a target for Spacey. Basinger says that she didn’t witness any kind of questionable behavior by Spacey:
“I would not have known about any kind of activity [like that] in any way, shape or form. I shot very closely with Russell Crowe. I shot very closely with Guy Pearce. So I really don’t have, honestly, any recollection of even seeing Kevin and Guy.
But Guy is a lovely human being. I’ve been out to dinner with Kevin years and years ago with someone else who was very famous in the music business, a woman. But other than that, I really don’t know Kevin Spacey.”
Source: Variety
9 1/2 Weeks
Release Date
February 21, 1986
Runtime
117 Minutes
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