Intimacy coordinator for Monster on Netflix explains ‘grim’ work when showing real events

The Ed Gein Story on Netflix continues the Monster general theme of not only showing horrific and often controversial crime, but also some highly sexualised and often depraved scenes. The latest iteration of Monster is no different, and arguably the hardest to film yet in terms of the deeply troubled sexual repression and fetishes that Ed Gein has in the story. Intimacy coordinator is a role of someone on set whose job it is to make sure these scenes are being filmed safely and the actors are being cared for when doing them. Top intimacy coordinator in Hollywood Yehuda Duenyas, who previously worked on Dahmer before Monster progressed to The Ed Gein Story, has revealed what it might have been like for Charlie Hunnam on the show.

It’s extra tough when scenes are based on real life events

Duenyas, who has previously worked on huge shows like WestWorld and The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, explains to Reach Screen Time what it would have been like on set and what’s important to get right.

via Netflix

Duenyas explains that “anytime you’re recreating real events, there’s a dual responsibility: the narrative imperative to tell the story well, and the ethical responsibility to do justice to the facts. Sometimes those two are in conflict. At the end of the day we’re making shows, not documentaries.

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“However, the emotional truths still have to hold. And whenever intimacy and violence intersect, that’s when a little extra care is required, and not because actors are fragile, and not because we should avoid difficult stories, but because embodying those scenarios has a real impact on our nervous systems. The body doesn’t know it’s fiction. The mind might, but the body does not.

“So our job as intimacy coordinators is to create structure, clear boundaries, choreography, support, so that the actors can go to those dark, complex emotional places without getting lost in them.”

Speaking about how Ryan Murphy and Netflix approached these sexually charged and disturbing scenes when the intimacy coordinator was working on Dahmer before Monster turned to The Ed Gein Story, Duenyas explains “Ryan Murphy and his creative team weren’t interested in glorifying a killer; they wanted to look at the social and psychological context. This predator was a deeply repressed gay man, operating in the heart of the AIDS crisis, preying on men who were themselves marginalised, erased, and unprotected.

“While no punches pulled on the horror of the scenarios or the spectacle of violence, the focus was on the humanity of the victims, the devastation to their families and communities. This combination of moral complexity and artistic rigour is what made me want to be part of it.”

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