Intimacy 15: Emotion vs Action
Here's where intimate scenes get really interesting.
Good acting isn't about what you do, but how you do it.
Anyone can learn lines and sit in a chair, but making it believable requires understanding character motivation.
So, think about real life — why do people have sex, for example?
- To show love or feel loved
- Out of duty or to procreate
- Physical desire or pleasure
- To get back at someone else
- To keep a partner from leaving
- To apologize or comfort
- To dominate or out of curiosity
- To please someone
Each reason creates different emotions and affects how you perform the scene as an actor. A goodbye kiss before war feels completely different from a seductive kiss or a kiss of reconciliation.
What we are saying is simply: don't get caught up in the physical actions. Work out why your character is having this intimate moment. Ask yourself why they're kissing, flirting, or being sexually aggressive.
Play the emotion, not the action. Let the physical movements come from the underlying reason and feeling. When you know why you're engaged in the scene, the actions change naturally.
This makes your performance more subtle and believable — it's what separates great intimate scenes from awkward ones.