Did Emma Thompson Rehearse Nude for *Good Luck to You, Leo Grande*?

Yes. Emma Thompson said she, co-star Daryl McCormack and director Sophie Hyde rehearsed nude for Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, discussing their relationships with their bodies and taking part in body-focused exercises. Thompson called the experience challenging at 62, but said it also made frankness easier and left less to fear.

What Thompson said about the nude rehearsals

Thompson described the actors and Hyde closing the set during rehearsal, taking off their clothes and talking about their bodies and how their relationships with them had changed. She told ITV News in June 2022: “During the rehearsal period, the three of us closed the set and took all of our clothes off and sat and talked about our bodies, and our relationship with our bodies and how it had changed over the years.”

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In a first-person essay for British Vogue, Thompson said Hyde joined the actors in the naked rehearsal. They discussed what they liked and disliked about their bodies. Thompson described the experience as “levelling and also elevating,” and wrote: “It’s easier to be honest when there’s literally nothing to hide, and it’s unavoidably humbling. And after that, there’s nothing much to fear.”

She also acknowledged the difficulty of being nude for the work. In a BBC America report published January 24, 2022, Thompson said, “It’s very challenging to be nude at 62.” She was referring to a demanding part of preparing for the film, not describing a universal approach actors should follow.

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What the preparation involved

Thompson said the group talked about their bodies and drew them. Hyde and McCormack gave further detail about the exercises in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. Hyde described tracing bodies and discussing what different body parts did in the actors’ lives, rather than focusing only on appearance. The actors removed clothing during the exercise and were nude by its end.

Accounts of the rehearsal schedule vary slightly in their description of its length. Thompson told The Playlist there were six rehearsal days before a 19-day shoot. The Los Angeles Times account, drawing on Hyde and McCormack, describes five days spent blocking the film, running lines and exploring the characters. Thompson said the final nude shot was filmed last in the story’s chronological order, and that rehearsal helped the actors feel calmer and more at ease as they worked.

How the film handled intimate scenes

The Los Angeles Times reported that Good Luck to You, Leo Grande did not have an intimacy coordinator. Hyde said she felt that her practices and frequent check-ins covered the work’s needs on this production. She described ongoing consent checks and making clear that the actors could change their minds, including during editing.

That account is specific to this film. McCormack said intimacy coordinators are vital and that their presence in the industry was overdue, while explaining that the team chose to work directly with Hyde because of the trust and connection developed on the production.

Thompson’s view on intimacy coordinators

Thompson’s participation in this film without an intimacy coordinator should not be taken as opposition to the role. In an August 2022 interview reported by The Guardian, she called intimacy coordinators “a fantastic introduction” to the work and said, “no, you can’t just ‘let it flow’.” She emphasized that filming intimate scenes is not the same as being alone with a partner.

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