Fair Play director: 'Phoebe Dynevor, Alden Ehrenreich had instant chemistry'
The Bridgerton and Solo stars play couple Emily and Luke in the new Netflix thriller from Chloe Domont.
The writer-director of the new Netflix thriller Fair Play has revealed that leads Phoebe Dynevor and Alden Ehrenreich had "instant chemistry" from the first time they read the script together.
The Bridgerton and Solo stars respectively play Emily and Luke in the film, a couple who work at the same hedge fund but whose passionate relationship begins to deteriorate soon after she is chosen for a promotion over him.
The success of the movie more or less lives or dies on the believability of their relationship in the first place – and speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com, Domont revealed that she knew that wouldn't be a problem as soon as she saw the actors in the same room.
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"They were pretty much cast around the same time," she explained. "And then we got them in the room together – I wouldn't call it a chemistry read, they were both cast in the film at that point. But we did a read early on just so that everyone could bond.
"And I think that it was incredibly exciting. Because I think that you can build chemistry, but you can't just start from nothing. And so I was relieved that the chemistry was instant between them. I believed them as a couple and I was excited to watch that couple."
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Given the steamy nature of some of the scenes, Domont also spoke about the importance of having an intimacy coordinator on set – and hit back at some figures in the industry who have questioned the need for this role in the past.
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"[They are] invaluable," she said. "I think that anyone who says that it gets in the way is an idiot, to be honest. I think it's a super ignorant comment.
"I think intimacy coordinators are freeing because they make everyone feel safe and comfortable. And when you feel safe, it frees you up into the scene."
She added: "I think I would never do anything without an intimacy coordinator that had any kind of intimate language, intimate or physical behaviours. We rehearsed with an intimacy coordinator, we shot with an intimacy coordinator and we also shot those scenes in two parts.
"We decided [that was] the best way to do it, so the actors could just focus on their performance. And then once we got performance, we treated the physical part like a stunt. So it was very technical. And I think being very technical just took the emotional baggage and the emotional weight and the emotional heaviness of what was going on out of it."
Fair Play is now available to watch on Netflix. Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.
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