Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac
Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac attend the red carpet of the show "Scenes From a Marriage" during the 78th Venice International Film Festival.
Elisabetta A. Villa/Getty Images
  • Jessica Chastain called her "Scenes From a Marriage" sex scenes with Oscar Isaac "embarrassing."
  • The pair, who are friends from college, drank bourbon before filming to calm their nerves.
  • Chastain watches her "very intimate" performances with her husband Gian Luca Passi de Preposulo.
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Jessica Chastain told Vulture she needed liquid courage and a serenade before filming an "embarrassing" sex scene with costar Oscar Isaac for HBO's "Scenes From a Marriage." The actors studied at the Juilliard School together, but that didn't necessarily make it any easier for Chastain to film intimate scenes with Isaac.

"I know it looks sexy, but it's not," Chastain said. "Oscar is such a good friend. Because I was so nervous, he played music and we drank a little bit of bourbon." According to Chastain, Isaac would sing a song he knew she liked between takes, which she says helped calm her.

Chastain also took her costar's advice and pretended like no one else was in the room except the two of them.

"The most beautiful part of one of the love scenes is the love in [Jonathan and Mira's] eyes when they're looking at each other. And [Oscar] helped create that," she said.

Of course, they were filming a TV show and very much not alone on set. Chastain recalled an intimacy coordinator telling the pair after one of their first takes that it didn't "look like" they were "having sex" and instructing them to add "more up-and-down action" to their movements.

Chastain and Isaac created buzz for "Scenes From a Marriage" on the red carpet at the Venice Film Festival when a slow-motion clip of Isaac kissing Chastain's arm went viral and was being compared to "The Addams Family" - but they're married to other people in real-life.

Chastain said she and her husband Gian Luca Passi de Preposulo are friends with Isaac and his wife Elvira Lind. She even watched her performance in "Scenes From a Marriage" with her husband because she feels "he needs to see" her "very intimate" performances.

"Scenes From a Marriage" airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

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