Conversations With Friends follows in the footsteps of its Sally Rooney adaptation predecessor, Normal People, by featuring some rather passionate and intimate sex scenes.
Many of these scenes feature actor Joe Alwyn, who plays Nick in the new drama series – a married man who becomes embroiled in a secret fling with student Frances.
Actress Alison Oliver, who plays Frances, has now opened up to The Times about how Alwyn's famous girlfriend, singer Taylor Swift, reacted to his participation in the scenes, revealing that she wasn't too bothered by them.
Emphasising that the sex scenes are "all part of the story", Oliver said that the 'Shake It Off' singer was "totally cool" with Alwyn's passionate scenes.
The actress, whose Conversations With Friends role is her first big acting job after finishing drama school, added that she did find it surreal to be filming with Alwyn and to see Swift visit the set, as she used to play the singer's songs on her guitar when she was growing up.
Oliver also explained that Swift understands that filming sex scenes is all "part of Joe's job, all part of the story".
Swift and Alwyn have been a couple since meeting at the 2016 Met Gala, but have primarily kept their love life out of the spotlight.
Oliver also spoke about how much she learned while filming her first love scenes, comparing the intimacy coordinators who worked on the set to "magicians".
"They give you intimacy garments, like skin-coloured knickers, and you can ask for pads and stuff to protect you and create distance between the other person," she said. "It's approached like a stunt – you are creating an illusion. The director, Lenny Abrahamson, let us be silly. He would say, 'Let's get the giggles out.'"
Alwyn himself has previously revealed how he felt filming those close-contact scenes for the BBC drama series, calling them "essentially choreographed" and "quite mechanical."
Reporter & Sub-Editor, Digital Spy Susannah is a freelance writer and sub-editor, specialising in the entertainment industry. She graduated in 2014, with a BA in English and American Literature and Creative Writing, and an MA in Creative Producing. She’s been writing for Digital Spy ever since, after first getting involved through work experience, and has written hundreds of stories for the site on a range of topics, from The Sims to Doctor Who. Susannah has also written for Reveal Magazine. Her special interests are soaps (her Mastermind subject would be 2000s Coronation Street), Marvel and Star Wars. She can also quote far too many lines from Friends and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
