I guess I just have some sympathy if a director wants to see his attractive actors naked and then follows that impulse by saying “Maybe the audience wants to see that too,” because a) the director’s job is to make the movie people want to see and has to trust his/her instincts in making it, and b) the truth is that a lot of people, male & female, *do* want to see attractive actors naked in movies. If any of us have ever fast-forwarded to a sex scene on Netflix or googled an attractive person’s nude scenes, this director was simply trying to create a movie with the elements that we want. And to a degree it’s what performers with sex appeal trade on to become movie stars: they get a privileged position in front of the camera because they look good and people want to look at them, including, occasionally, in states of undress. I think as long as a line isn’t crossed professionally — and to me it doesn’t sound like it was; there’s no allegations that the director insisted on private rehearsals alone with Kidman or anything — then this kind of thing is simply part of the job these people all signed up for and were being paid to do.

I agree it shouldn’t become a puritanical witchhunt, but you gotta at least leave the door open for the possibility that Sorkin’s account is correct, right?

I have never been a fan of sex scenes in movies. 9 times out 10 they are pointless. They do nothing to further the story, the characters or the action. In those cases, we call them gratuitous. And if a director’s reason for including a gratuitous sex scene is because he wants to see the actress naked, that’s pretty f**** up.

The way I see it, the director wanted a sexy scene in his movie — maybe it was because he thought sex sells, maybe he thought the visual of attractive actors making love was pleasing, who knows — but the fledgling writer had trouble delivering what he wanted, so he gave him some brainstorming advice. Maybe the advice was inartfully phrased and maybe Aaron Sorkin didn’t like it, which is his right, but it’s not like the director said, “Let’s all get together and harass & assault Nicole Kidman.” Shooting sex scenes are part of an actor’s job. Let’s not get hysterical and turn this into some puritanical thing. (And if you’re going to make your argument about exploitative Nicole Kidman sex scenes, “Dead Calm” is the hill to die on. My two cents.)