Natalie Dormer's new movie In Darkness came out in the U.S. way back in May. However, it didn't hit the U.K. until this weekend, leading to renewed interest in a sex scene in the film that has been described in erotic terms, as well as point blank called "gratuitous nudity." Now In Darkness' star has revealed that's not the way she sees the sex scenes at all. Dormer defended the use of nudity in the film, noting,
There has to be sexuality in the power play of a thriller. We have all got bodies, after all. In this film the sex scene, which for me was a love-making scene, is a metaphor for the way my character connects with the part played by Ed Skrein. Nakedness is a good equalizer and the shower scene also shows the tattoos on my character's body and makes it clear she is not quite who you think.
The nudity in In Darkness crops up numerous times, as Natalie Dormer's character Sofia, a blind woman, goes topless in several scenes in addition to an aggressive sex scene in a shower in which the sex is juxtaposed with shots of a dead young woman. It's that woman, played by Emily Ratajkowski, that the mystery and thriller component in the film revolves around.
Natalie Dormer has been naked in TV and film projects before, and seems pretty comfortable going topless, having done so most notably in pay cable productions like The Tudors and Game of Thrones, the latter a show that has gotten tens of millions of eyeballs. Her character even has a relationship with a much younger character on the HBO show, which also inspired some level of talk in the tabloids. Still, Dormer has previously spoken out about feeling that the sex scenes in the HBO drama also worked because those scenes were "quite real and dirty as well." So, she seems to believe nude scenes are valuable in the right context.
In her comments to The Guardian, the actress also revealed her thoughts on using nudity in art, like movies, saying that people will see things that were not intended.
When you make something, you learn that no matter how pure your intentions other people will see things in it.
Natalie Dormer actually co-wrote In Darkness with Anthony Byrne, so in terms of the character's intentions, she should have a good grasp of what was wanted with the script, as well as the overall tone of the movie. As she sees it, the scene works in multiple ways to allow us to see that Sofia is not simply a blind music teacher and to also show how nudity joins her character with Ed Skrein's. If that's something you'd like to see, In Darkness can be rented in the States right now (opens in new tab), or seen in theaters elsewhere.
