Intro for May 29, 2025

Dear Gossips,  

Summer is here, school is (almost?) out, it is time for silliness and tomfoolery, but NO, we have to have a Serious Discussion about Serious Things because people refuse to take the need for intimacy coordinators seriously. The latest: a stunt performer, Devyn LaBella, is suing Kevin Costner, among others, for “being subjected to an unscripted, brutal rape scene without proper notice, consent or the presence of a contractually mandated intimacy coordinator”.

The incident happened during production of Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2 back in 2023 (the film premiered at Venice in 2024, but due to Chapter 1’s underperformance, it remains unreleased). Devyn LaBella was hired as the stunt double for Ella Hunt, whose character, Juliette, experiences sexual violence on the frontier. According to her suit, Hunt’s contract called for an intimacy coordinator to be used in nude or intimate scenes, which would apply to her stunt double as well. This contractual obligation strengthens union protections in place which include “prior notice, consent, and a closed set” for nude/intimate scenes. The planned scene was executed in this manner, the issue is the day after the planned scene, when Costner, who directs and co-writes the Horizon films, inserted a SECOND scene of intimate violence.

Allegedly, LaBella didn’t know Hunt had already left set “visibly upset” on that second day, and then LaBella was left to film the scene without notice, rehearsal, or the presence of the intimacy coordinator. You can read the specifics in the article linked previously, but keep in mind when filming violent scenes, your body doesn’t know it’s fake. One reason notice and preparation are so beneficial to performers is it gives them time to bridge the gap between knowing and experiencing what is happening. 

LaBella wasn’t given a chance to prepare herself on the second day and then had to go through filming a scene in which an actor lay on top of her and jerked around her clothes and kept touching her even when they weren’t rolling. And it kind of sounds like Ella Hunt bailed when she learned this was going to happen, allegedly, to me, reading between the lines, but LaBella didn’t have that option, being much lower on the ladder…and being the one hired to step in to perform physical scenes Hunt wouldn’t or couldn’t. (Ultimately, the scene was shot with a stand-in, someone EVEN LOWER down the ladder.)

Costner is represented by Marty Singer, a famously combative attorney, and he is, of course, claiming that because LaBella “gave a thumb’s up” and later went to dinner and expressed thanks to the stunt coordinator that means everything was copacetic and she is, I guess, making all this up now. But two things leap out to me: 1) Why did Ella Hunt walk off set that day, and 2) why did they ultimately need a stand-in to finish the scene, if LaBella was so “willing” to shoot the scene? Kind of sounds like no one wanted to do it.

According to LaBella, that stunt coordinator, Wade Allen, had hired her for other work before Horizon, but hasn’t hired her for anything since. Is there a chance the thank yous and the dinner were an effort to salvage a relationship she knew was jeopardized by what happened on set that day? I know I am most conciliatory at work when I feel a relationship is in trouble and needs to be finessed. Why would a stunt performer be any different?

There is a long tradition of directors springing (simulated) intimate violence on actresses, including the notorious “butter scene” in Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Tango in Paris, which Bertolucci later admitted was filmed without actress Maria Schneider’s consent. It’s a huge reason why SAG-AFTRA contracts include language protecting actors filming nude/intimate scenes, and it’s a big reason for the rise of intimacy coordinators in filming, to ensure the agency and comfort of the performers involved. 

But it also shows that the more things change, the more they stay the same. A lot of filmmakers and actors insist they don’t need intimacy coordinators at all. I think Devyn LaBella’s allegations are a good argument for making them mandatory, no exceptions. They should have the same status on set as a stunt coordinator. You can’t perform physical scenes without a stunt coordinator, you shouldn’t be able to perform intimate scenes without an intimacy coordinator, even if it’s a last-minute addition to the shoot. 

This is, of course, not the only lawsuit going right now about the safety of performers on set when it comes to performing intimate and nude scenes. But that’s not what we’ve been talking about, is it? We keep talking about Taylor Swift and leaked emails. Meanwhile, nothing is changing for the better. Almost like it’s on purpose, no?

Live long and gossip,

Sarah