Not an easy task. Sex/Life includes many very risqué love scenes — which means a lot of work was put in behind the scenes. The Netflix series follows Sarah Shahi‘s Billie Connelly as she tries to rediscover the spark in her marriage to Cooper (Mike Vogel) while remembering the wild life she had with ex Brad (Adam Demos).
The drama, which jumps between different time frames, shows Billie facing many different sexual experiences with both men — something that Shahi, 41, was actually excited to do as an actor.
“I’ve often felt that when you have sex scenes in film and television — unless it’s a lesbian piece — they’re kind of depicted through the male point of view. It’s often the woman having sex the way a man wants to have sex,” the City on a Hill star told Us Weekly exclusively in June. “I thought this was a real opportunity to flip that on its head. Now, you have female sexuality represented by women on screen. … I felt like this was such a statement, to show that we are these incredible sexual beings.”
She also shared that she really wanted to do something more risqué
“I have always been trying to get into projects like this. I just never got hired,” she shared at the time. “Everyone was always trying to hire me to be the tough chick and paid me to keep my clothes on. I’ve been wanting to be a bit risky and cry and show emotional vulnerability for a while now.”
Casey Hudecki was brought onto the show as the intimacy coordinator, working with the cast and crew on any nude scenes or scenes involving simulated sex.
“With Sex/Life, it was very focused on female pleasure, and there were some new stories in there. My personal favorites were always the stories between Billie and Cooper because Billie and Brad were this nostalgic fantasy. Billie and Cooper were like the harsh light of day reality with kids,” the stunt coordinator explained exclusively to Us. “We actually don’t tell those stories as much, so I find those really interesting to tell.”
She went on to break down some of the most difficult scenes to film, conversations that happened and more. Scroll through the gallery below and watch the exclusive video above for more.