Cynthia Erivo spoke candidly about the importance of working with an intimacy coordinator on her new movie “Prima Facie” at a London Film Festival screen talk on Monday, saying that often “not enough credit is given” to them. In her first film role post “Wicked,” Erivo leads “Prima Facie” as Tessa Ensler, a successful defense lawyer who finds herself at the center of a trial when she is sexually assaulted by a colleague. Based on Suzie Miller’s acclaimed stage play, the film premiered last month at Toronto Film Festival and has its U.K. debut at London Film Fest on Tuesday.
Erivo said she “knew immediately” that she wanted to sign on to the film, which she also produced. She readily admitted that the intense legal drama was “really hard” to film, especially the scene involving the assault. This is where the film’s intimacy coordinator, Lizzy Talbot, came in.
And that was the thing that we had to figure out — how to do that and come back safely.” She continued, “A lot of this was really hard to film, but the hardest thing was actually coming back from filming it. Getting your feet back on the ground, getting back into your body and finding the safest place again.” Erivo said that she and Daniel Ings, who plays the lawyer who assaults Tessa, had many discussions about how to handle the scene in a way that made them both feel safe. And it isn’t just about choreographing a sex scene, a love scene, it’s sometimes about how to not just choreograph these really hard, harrowing scenes, but make sure everyone comes back to their bodies safely.” Erivo said she hopes the film sparks a wider conversation about consent, as well as about how Black women are often overlooked when it comes to discussions about sexual assault.
And so what this does is it puts us in the eye of the beholder — we’re sort of front and center to have the discussion of what it looks like when this happens to us as well. It’s more often than you would realize, more than we discuss at all. It’s often not reported,” Erivo said.
I know that the two of us have strange relationships with fathers. I know that the two of us can get frustrated and can be stubborn. I know that the two of us also have a joy in us that no one really realizes and hasn’t been able to see.
I knew all those things and I could start from there,” she said. So when the words are on the page, how would I say them so that they mean something? So that they are connected to me, not connected to her or how I’ve heard them said before.” She added, “The more I started to understand who this person was, I realized that, I think for a lot of people it’s like, ‘Oh, the green girl.
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