Nikolaj Coster-Waldau has commented about his and Jennifer Garner’s surprise at participating in an intimacy session for their new play, while reflecting on ‘uncomfortable’ incidents in his early career.
The performers will star in Apple TV Plus’ new mini-series The Last Thing He Told Me, which is based on novelist Laura Dave’s best-selling mystery of the same name.
While he rose to global fame as Jaime Lannister in Game of Thrones from 2011 to 2019 – an epic fantasy drama that sparked plenty of debate about its steamy sequences – having intimacy coordinators on set has only become more common in the TV industry in recent years, with HBO adopting an official policy on the subject in 2018.
During a recent interview, Nikolaj, 52, stated why he and Jennifer, 50, were surprised to work with intimacy experts on the first day they met, stating that the practise was ‘not around’ when he began his profession as an actor.
Describing the 13 Going On 30 star as a ‘very good actress’ and a ‘very nice person’, he said: ‘The first time we met was a few days before we started shooting and it was for an intimacy session, and I didn’t know what that meant. She didn’t know what that meant.
‘It was kind of awkward because we don’t have any super intimate physical scenes together, so we were like, “What is this?” But it turned out to be like jumping back in drama school and doing movement theatre together.’
In The Last Thing He Told Me, Nikolaj and Jennifer’s characters, Owen Michaels and Hannah Michaels, are introduced as a married couple, which is why feeling ‘familiar’ with one another in real life was such an important component of the job, he explained.
‘It was so much fun, and you could tell right away that we shared a sense of humour, which is very crucial in terms of being comfortable with each other,’ he said, adding that it was a’very wonderful method of getting to know someone, especially when you have to play husband and wife’.
While they were both shocked to have an intimacy session for the show because they didn’t think they had any moments ‘that would justify it,’ Nikolaj noted how he thinks it’s ‘great’ that intimacy coordinators are becoming more regular.
‘It was not around when I started out and I had so many very uncomfortable experiences. It’s the best thing to have,’ he outlined.
Hannah is the focus of The Last Thing He Told Me when her husband Owen inexplicably departs.
In attempt to solve the mystery, she teams up with her stepdaughter Bailey (Angourie Rice), with whom she has a strained relationship.
Nikolaj earlier remarked that he had only seen fragments of House of the Dragon and was astonished to witness a sequence starring a’smug’ Lannister.
In a new interview, he admitted that he hasn’t finished watching the Game of Thrones prequel because it’s ‘too soon’ for him.
‘I’ll wait. I’ll give it a couple of seasons, then I can binge watch it and then there’s the whole thing,’ he told Entertainment Weekly.
‘But I know that so many people love that show, and I’m really happy for them.’
The Last Thing He Told Me premieres on Friday April 14 on Apple TV Plus.