Much of the new Starz series Spartacus: Blood and Sand is famously shot using green-screen technology, where sets and backgrounds are not “real,” but are instead created by CGI.
So what of the other much-talked-about aspect of the series, the show’s vaunted sex scenes and female and male nudity? How real are those?
First, ask yourself: do you really want to know? But if you’re not worried about it spoiling the illusion, read on!
Some of the nudity is absolutely “real.” Those really are Lucy Lawless’s breasts, and many of the extras are obviously really naked.
But some of it is also, well, the magic of television.
Lawless made a big impact at the Television Critics Association conference in July when she told reporters she’d been fitted for a “merkin,” or pubic wig — a red one at that. At the time, not yet finished with the show’s twelve-episode shoot, she said it hadn’t yet been used — but that it might be.
Then again, she implied, there might be bottomless scenes where she wouldn’t use it all
And what of the male nudity? It seems that some of the actors were a little bashful about their, um, size, so the costumers created — there’s no other way to say this — a prosthetic penis. Hilariously, it was dubbed “the Kirk Douglas,” after the star of the original Spartacus movie.
As to which actors did or didn’t wear it, “We can’t give away our trade secrets,” Robert Tapert told reporters.
“We have one person is the cast who insists on being naked,” Lucy Lawless joked to EW’s Michael Ausiello in July. “And we’re like, ‘Bold choice.’ Nobody’s really asking, but if you insist, we’ll shoot it.”
But she didn’t specify that cast member’s name.
As for Andy Whitfield, who plays Spartacus, will he be fully naked at any point this season?
Whitfield implied to Chelsea Handler on the Chelsea Lately talk show that while the character of Spartacus gets naked, the actor himself does not; he used a body double for the scenes.
“They had to search the world for the right … size,” he joked.
And what of the show’s sexual activity itself? Is any of that real?
Nope, that’s all pure acting.
“The sex scenes are always choreographed,” Lawless told reporters just last month. “[There's]’s always a layer [between the actors]. There’s no skin on skin contact apart from the kissing. So, it’s pretty standardized. And then what you think you are seeing in the final cut, it was pretty controlled.”
But Lawless was quick to point out that the sex in Spartacus is anything but porn. “When there’s a sex scene … it is about something else,” she said. “Otherwise, it would be on the Playboy Channel. This is not soft porn.”
“Everything I’ve read, [Rome] was a very visceral place both in its regards to sex and its regards to violence,” co-creator Steven DeKnight told the same group of reporters. “You’ll see some background sex going on. That’s obviously a part of the bigger scene, but once our main characters — there is always something else going on in the sex scene. It’s a discussion, it’s a power play, it’s exploration of love. It’s never just for the sex or titillation.”
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this movie is so awesome,wonderful and spactacular and i would like to see more of this kind of movie full of trama, tragedy and most important love….its so wonderful
I seem to recall a video interview with Manu Bennett (Crixus) on the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere, and he said he was Maori - they’re not big on wearing clothes to start with, so he enjoyed the nudity.
“Looking to buy something mentioned in this article?”
I searched and searched, and could not find the “Kirk Douglas” on Amazon. Sigh.
That’s hilarious!
I suspect you could find, uh, something along those lines — but probably not at Amazon!
It’s weird to me that “WE” seem more concerned about the ’skin-on-skin’ contact than when people are chopping off people’s heads, arms, legs, faces, and the like. I read the posts about this show from the other day with people saying they hated it and one guy b*tching up to the heavens.
“And the first sin was intercourse,” said Margaret White as she slapped Carrie across the face with the good Lord’s holy book. “Now, say it.” And again she slapped her daughter. “Say it.”
This country is so…(anger ensues) What’s the matter with someone’s real penis or vagina? Why are you not concerned that Daisy Lawless would have to see heads flying? Isn’t that awkward? Sanitized sex? LOL… Conditioned much?
Cool article. Given some of the disturbing things I’ve seen on this show, I like to believe it is all fake. That typed, I’m having a hard time seeing how they avoided skin/skin contact in some of the love scenes shown? At the very least the torsos of the actors seemed to be in contact.
And no matter how sanitised it all is, I still feel bad for Lucy Lawless’ daughter Daisy Lawless if she ever has to do any work sound editing Lucretia’s “love scenes”. That’s just awkward, no matter how many precautions were taken to avoid skin/skin contact.
Cool article. Given some of the disturbing things I’ve seen on this show, I like to believe it is all fake. That typed, I’m having a hard time seeing how they avoided skin/skin contact in some of the love scenes shown? At the very least the torsos of the actors seemed to be in contact.
And no matter how sanitised it all is, I still feel bad for Lucy Lawless’ daughter Daisy Lawless if she ever has to do any work sound editing Lucretia’s “love scenes”. That’s just awkward, no matter how many precautions were taken to avoid skin/skin contact. Of course, a lot of the sexual imagery is no worse than what was shown in the last two seasons of Xena: Warrior Princess.
Cool article. Given some of the disturbing things I’ve seen on this show, I like to believe it is all fake. That typed, I’m having a hard time seeing how they avoided skin/skin contact in some of the love scenes shown? At the very least the torsos of the actors seemed to be in contact.
And no matter how sanitised it all is, I still feel bad for Lucy Lawless’ daughter Daisy Lawless if she ever has to do any work sound editing Lucretia’s “love scenes”. That’s just awkward, no matter how many precautions were taken to avoid skin/skin contact. Then again, after all the sex and nudity in the final two seasons of Xena: Warrior Princess, I’m guessing everyone in the Lawless/Tapert family is used to it by now.