When it comes to Hollywood’s steamiest moments, not everything you see on screen is exactly what it seems. From iconic rom-coms to daring arthouse films, plenty of stars have relied on body doubles to step in for nude shots or sex scenes — whether to protect their privacy, maintain comfort, or just because the role demanded a little extra movie magic.
These behind-the-scenes swaps often go unnoticed, but they reveal just how much craft (and clever editing) goes into making those jaw-dropping scenes feel real. Here are 11 times famous sex and nude moments were actually pulled off by body doubles.
1.
From Season 1, Game of Thrones became infamous for its boundary-pushing sex and nude scenes. While Emilia Clarke’s Daenerys was bold and unapologetically naked on screen, her co-star Lena Headey took a different path. For Cersei’s infamous “Walk of Shame,” a body double was used for the nude shots — a decision that sparked plenty of conversation. Headey later explained that some viewers assumed she was less committed to the role because she chose not to have her “tits out.” But she made it clear her decision had nothing to do with vanity — it was about protecting her boundaries and her mental health.
2.
In Firebrand, Jude Law is almost unrecognizable as King Henry VIII — his transformation complete in a sex scene with Alicia Vikander’s Catherine Parr, which includes what a reviewer called an “enormous rolling buttock” moment. It left audiences wondering if Law actually showed his rear for that shot. Body double Dale Farrow eventually confirmed he was brought in because Law couldn’t realistically put on the weight needed to match the character’s.
3.
When Friends with Benefits dropped in 2011, Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake gave fans exactly what they signed up for — nonstop flirting and plenty of heat. But Kunis revealed she never actually went fully nude — instead, she held a casting call where women auditioned to be her body double by showing off their “derrières”. She worked with the team to pick the woman whose figure was the closest match, and it was that double who appeared in the film’s most revealing shots.
4.
When Fifty Shades of Grey premiered, Dakota Johnson became the face of one of the most talked-about erotic films of the decade. Playing Anastasia Steele opposite Jamie Dornan’s Christian Grey meant navigating a long list of intimate and BDSM-heavy scenes. Despite how explicit the movie looked on screen, Johnson revealed she didn’t expose her bare skin in every shot. Because she had a tattoo on her butt, the filmmakers cast a non-tattooed “butt double” for the shots focusing on that area.
5.
In The Substance, Demi Moore stunned audiences with one of the wildest body-horror transformations to hit the theatre — but not every shocking moment was her alone. For the film’s most graphic and surreal sequences — including the infamous “birth” scene where her character splits open to deliver her younger self — the production relied on body doubles, prosthetics, puppetry, and visual effects.
6.
In The Aftermath, Keira Knightley and Alexander Skarsgård brought plenty of passion to their post–World War II love affair, but Knightley herself didn’t film the most revealing nude moments. She explained that while she was comfortable doing carefully choreographed sex scenes earlier in her career — even calling her library tryst with James McAvoy in Atonement her favourite — she’s become less inclined to appear nude as she’s gotten older. For The Aftermath, she chose to use a body double for the explicit shots, while she focused on delivering the emotional weight of the romance.
7.
Behind all the outrageous comedy of Wedding Crashers, Isla Fisher revealed how it took more than one body double to pull off Gloria’s wildest moments. She had a “hand double” for the under-the-table scene, a breast double for the “boob-in-the-face” gag, and even a butt double. Fisher later explained that she pushed back against showing her own body because she felt nudity would make her character come across as sexual instead of funny. While the producers originally wanted Gloria naked in multiple scenes, Fisher compromised by letting the doubles handle the exposure so she could keep the focus on the laughs.
8.
Nymphomaniac made headlines for its graphic sex scenes — and that included Shia LaBeouf, who signed on for one of the boldest roles of his career. But the film’s most explicit moments weren’t exactly what they seemed. Producer Louise Vesth revealed that the actors and actresses handled the “above-the-waist” moments, while porn doubles took care of the bottom half. Those graphic shots were then digitally composited, creating the illusion that LaBeouf and his co-stars were doing far more on screen than they really were.
9.
Released in 2011, Your Highness leaned hard into raunchy medieval comedy, complete with crude jokes, nudity, and a few over-the-top sex scenes. But despite the marketing hype around Natalie Portman’s warrior character Isabel, she never took part in the nudity. The infamous lake scene — where her character appears in a skimpy bikini — was actually done with a body double. So while other characters got caught up in the film’s more explicit moments, Portman kept her role strictly action-hero, swinging swords instead of stripping down — leaving a film student, reportedly paid just £250, to handle the plunge.
10.
In Antichrist, Willem Dafoe gave one of the rawest performances of his career — but the nude shots weren’t really him. According to Dafoe, if they had used his real genitals, “that’s all that people would talk about.” Director Lars von Trier backed that up, bluntly saying, “Will’s was too big… he has an enormous dick” and that “everybody got very confused when they saw it.” So a body double was brought in, making sure the focus stayed on the film’s brutal horror and grief instead of Dafoe’s anatomy.
11.
In Based on a True Story, Kaley Cuoco’s character dives headfirst into murder, mayhem, and plenty of steamy twists — but the actress herself sat those moments out. Cuoco was very pregnant towards the end of filming. Instead, she relied on a body double (complete with a prosthetic bump) to step in for the risqué shots.
Surprised by how many iconic sex and nude scenes were acted by body doubles? What’s your favourite on-screen sex scene or wildest nude moment? Be honest — no judgment here. Drop it in the comments and let’s see which ones still have everyone talking.
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