As Oliver and Bree’s romance heats up on season 2 of Tell Me Lies, Tom Ellis and Cat Missal opened up about what went into bringing those steamy sex scenes to life.
During an exclusive interview with Us Weekly, Ellis, 45, and Missal, 24, discussed how Oliver and Bree’s relationship transitioned from a forbidden connection to a passionate affair.
“With the delicate nature of this story line in particular, [it was] really [about] just taking our time and being very careful around all of the intimate scenes,” Missal explained. “And just trying to make it feel as real as possible for the viewers to really cling onto this idea of hope for Bree.”
The second season of Tell Me Lies picked up as Bree decided to break up with boyfriend Evan (Branden Cook). As she parted ways with Evan, Bree kept running into her professor’s husband, Oliver, who started to flirt with her. Bree acted on her feelings for Oliver and during the Wednesday, September 11, episode of the hit Hulu series, viewers saw the fictional couple consummate their relationship with a very intense sex scene.
“It’s very technical. So you rehearse and having the intimacy coordinator is amazing,” Missal noted. “I’m so grateful that we have that person in place now. [We were] just being really careful, delicate and approaching it with a lot of care.”
Ellis, meanwhile, revealed that Tell Me Lies was the first time he worked with an intimacy coordinator. (An intimacy coordinator is meant to serve as an advocate and liaison between actors and production. They are also considered choreographers when it comes to content involving nudity, simulated sex and other intimate onscreen moments.)
“It was my first time working with an intimacy coordinator and as Cat said, I was really appreciative of having that as a facility now,” the actor told Us. “Because these are uncomfortable scenes to shoot as a performer.”
Ellis, who is married to showrunner Meaghan Oppenheimer, pointed out how Tell Me Lies has utilized steamy moments to enhance the story, adding, “The sex in this show is not meant to be gratuitous. It’s not meant to be there just for the sake of ‘And now [the characters] have sex.’ It’s part of the conversation.”
After joining season 2, Ellis appreciated having the ability to discuss the NSFW content before it was filmed.
“Even talking about awkward things about what type of sex is this and all that sort of stuff, it was really important that we got that right. And [it was about] having consent and for it to feel delicate and sensual,” he continued. “These are conversations that you have, and having an intimacy coordinator in place really helps have that conversation for something that is innately going to be a weird experience. It always is when you do these things, but to make it as safe as possible and have boundaries.”
Ellis also prioritized making sure Missal felt comfortable, “My feeling, as Tom, is I always wanted Cat to feel as safe as possible,” he said.
Despite Oliver and Bree’s chemistry, it was important that Tell Me Lies still subtly highlight the more than 20-year age difference between them.
“Our job was to kind of connect and our job was to make it like we had to forget about the power imbalance and the age difference. We just played it out as two people connecting because the rest of it takes care of itself,” Ellis shared with Us. “It was weird for me watching it back because I had to have that mindset doing it. And you watch it back and it becomes very obvious how wrong it is. But I couldn’t play how wrong it was. I had to play how it felt in a weird sort of way.”
Ellis admitted it was a “fine line to walk” for both him and Missal, saying, “The weird thing about this one is that we want the audience to root for this relationship in a weird way. You want it for Bree in the same way that Bree wants it — even though you know that it’s wrong. But again, that’s pretty much what Tell Me Lies is about. It’s about ignoring those red flags.”
As for Missal, she wanted to make sure Bree’s perspective shone through as she found herself intrigued by Oliver’s maturity.
“We both approached the material with a lot of care. We both wanted to make sure that it felt really genuine of a connection so that the viewers are right along with us on our journey,” she detailed to Us. “The way that we approached the material was taking it step by step as actors playing these characters. We were going through the stages of their dynamic just as we were filming rather than getting ahead of ourselves. That was really helpful.”
New episodes of Tell Me Lies premiere Wednesdays on Hulu.