I heard that it sometimes happens on accident, but that they don’t really do it as a general rule.

It’s acting.
Do I really need to elaborate?

Acting.

Even on a closed set, there’s still quite a few people working near the actors. No one is unaware that they’re at work, you know? And they’re wearing flesh-colored pasties on the lower bits, usually. Now, after the scene’s in the can, all bets are off in the stars’ trailers!

Edited to add: These scenes are choreographed between the camera, lighting and the actors to pull off the illusion. And they take a lot of time to set up. If you had to contort yourself the way actors have to, you’d be very sore. And people do sometimes get aroused, but professionals don’t do anything in front of the camera! They’re at work. I can’t emphasize that enough: They’re at work. Sometimes actors, like everyone else at their jobs, become highly attracted to their co-stars. What makes it different is that, being actors, they have to unearth emotions and vulnerability for their work in a way that Joe the IT dude and Mary the AA don’t have to, so things are exacerbated AND accelerated on a movie set or in theater. There’s a lot of on-set hoo-ha for a reason. But it’s not onscreen!

I doubt that this ever happens. If you believe it is happening that just goes to show you how good the actors and the angle of filming were….

A more plausible question is how often do the actors become aroused while filming sex scenes…..?

I’m sure that if one of the male actors “slipped”, there would be some serious reprecussions. Probably in the form of millions of dollars.

I found a list of mainstream films with unsimulated sex, but most of them just mention masturbation/oral and not actual penetration.

Brown Bunny had real sex in it (Chloe Sevigny gives VIncent Gallo oral), but Vincent Gallo is a creep. Seriously, there is not enough Listerine in the Universe…

What kind of…... movie?

Thanks for the list KE, I didn’t see or even have heard of a single one of the films. I don’t get out much!

Yep. The Brown Bunny was on the list.

@Cardinal – Haha, me neither except 9 songs… which is an indie film and shows a lot of actual sex. I heard the actress in it tried to beg the director to change her name in the film or something (like people wouldn’t recognize her?) because she recieved a lot of negative reactions.

I’ve seen three of the films on that list. Or… Two of them, I guess. Cruising and Shortbus. I didn’t finish Caligula; I’ve seen porn that’s more tastefully done than that was. I recommend Shortbus, though; you’ll never think of the Star-Spangled Banner the same way again.

generally, and i would venture to say always, in american movies (esp. blockbusters) it is NOT real sex.

BUT! there is a term for movies/films that use real sex. it is called “un-simulated” [sex].

one example of a movie that uses un-simulated sex is the movie “Lucia y el sexo”. it is a foreign film (spain) that uses un-simulated sex scenes. obviously directors must have a very convincing argument to make actors have sex with each other if they are not making a porno. (in the case of this film i think it adds a feeling of life changing intimacy between the characters).

….....a side note: something that i find extremely interesting about the Lucia movie is that although it does have explicit and un-simulated sex scenes, no violence is shown in the movie (even though the story implies something deadly). which, if you contrast with american movies, people here would be outraged to hear that there is a movie where 2 people are actually having sex, but they don’t get angry about a person being torn limb from limb. just something to think about if you do decide to see this movie

opps, sorry i looked at the list that KE posted after i typed out my answer! anyways lucia is on there!

9 Songs was a pseudo-porn flick, if you’re interested in watching unsimulated sex in a shelf release film. It does neither porn nor film very well though.

You’d be amazed how much trickery goes into films and television programs. After making my own movie with a small team of people, I can now clearly see television and movie fakery for what it is, which is to say extremely common and quite ingenious at times. It’s safe to say that anything you see in movies or television, even something simple as two people conversing while walking down a hallway and then entering a room (where the shot changes from following the discussion in the hallway to being in the room as the characters enter the door) is “fake”: odds are extremely high that there was a cut after the hallway scene, then filming was resumed with the camera inside the room. Post production really is magical, and you can change the mood or theme of the entire film simply through the use of cuts.

Considering how “real” simple things are in film, I conclusively say it’s very probable that the sex is also not “real”. It’s much harder to get two actors willing to have sex with each other who also have the acting talent. Body doubles and camera cuts help to make the sex seem real.

no, the almost never do it for real in proper films. It’s too much work already. Though they might end up doing it off the set if they like each other.

@jack: “proper”? “proper films”?

ok ok, non-porno films then

you know they exist @alive, they’re out there somewhere, you just need to search real hard… :P