Doctor Who star Christopher Eccleston has praised the emergence of intimacy coordinators on set, revealing that he once was accused of "copping a feel' by an A-list actress because, he says she "didn't like" him.
The 59-year-old actor, who stars alongside Jodie Foster in the new drama True Detective: North Country, was reportedly asked if he had never felt uncomfortable during a sex scene to which he replied: "Yes. I did a sex scene with an A-list actress – not Nicole Kidman, who was brilliant – and she implied, in front of the crew, that I was copping a feel. Because she didn’t like me."
He continued that he was "fortunate that happened to me before the Harvey Weinstein stuff came to light, so I wasn’t put in the stocks for it," but admitted that the actress' actions left him feeling "betrayed".
Speaking to The Independent, Christopher added: "I have to say to you that I would sooner have put my hands in a food blender than copped a feel of that person. It was an abuse of power, what she did."
"Those are a wonderful innovation in the industry," he shared of intimacy coordinators, adding that the coordinator he worked with on the new HBO aries helped him to realize that they are there to "protect" the men as well as the women.
True Detective has returned for a fourth season – ten years after the first season of the critically acclaimed series aired, and five years after the third – and this time set in Alaska with Jodie and Kali Reis starring as Detectives Liz Danvers and Evangeline Navarro who investigate the disappearance of eight men from a research station.
True Detective has had a rocky time with critics and viewers; season one with Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson won five Emmy awards and was a watercooler moment, while season two and three received middling reviews and saw viewership drop.
Jodie, who found fame as an 11-year-old in Bugsy Malone, has had an incredible January 2024 so far, with the release of her new show, and an Oscar nomination – her fifth – for Nyad. Jodie was named in the Best Supporting Actress category, alongside America Ferrera (Barbie), Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer), Danielle Brooks (The Color Purple), and Da'Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers).
Her Nyad co-star Annette Bening also received a Best Actress nod, which surprised many and left Margot Robbie looking in as she missed out for her work in Barbie.