Two questions:
It’s actually rather hard for a man to get and maintain an erection while he’s surrounded by a film crew, which is why you keep seeing the same few men in pornos and even then they often need the assistance of a fluffer and/or viagra.
I read somewhere that there is some kind of simple flap of fabric that prevents contact between the actor’s genitals in most of these kinds of scenes, even though the man is most likely flaccid.
There’s a rumor that in “Don’t Look Now”, Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland really did it, (there is some real frontal nudity) but of course the actors involved deny that any real sex happened.
I think pretty much all “R rated” sex is simulated onscreen, after all there are probably complex legal and contractual issues involved. I mean actors are unionized and insured workers after all, and the various risks involved in real sexual acts (even “protected” ones) are enough to make it unlikely that any intercourse will be filmed, from a purely business point of view.
Now what I wonder is what happens after those scenes are done. I mean If I was Michael Douglas in “Basic Instinct” or William Hurt in “Body Heat”, I don’t think after writhing nude for a few hours underneath an equally nude Sharon Stone or Kathleen Turner, I could just toss on a robe and have a doughnut and coffee and chat about the script. I’m sure they have go off to sort of let it all out (together, alone, or with someone else) afterwards.
I was just thinking about his the other day. I was watching Voices In A Locked Room, an obscure movie that I rented only because it starred the extremely yummy Jeremy Northam. In one of the love scenes, Mr. Northam and his leading lady were – hmmm, I’m not sure there’s a name for the position they were in – rear entry position, but not classic doggy style (on the knees). They were flat on the bed, face down, Mr. Northam on top. I’ve done it, certainly, but I don’t know what to call it. 
Anyway, they were uncovered and naked. The sides of both of their bodies were revealed and I checked closely for straps or anything that would suggest g-strings were being worn. They were definately naked. So how did they avoid carnal contact in that position? I finally decided they could have placed a towel over the leading ladies heinie, or a sock over Mr. Northam’s Tool o’Love, but still, it seemed impossible to me that, in that position, the guy didn’t have an erection – he would have had to have it (the Tool o’Love) cuddled up right between her butt cheeks, AND there was some friction producing movement going on as well. I suppose that the presence of camera and crew would have an inhibiting effect, though. And, Mr. Northam has done a number of fairly spicy love scenes – I guess one gets used to them after a while. If I send him a link to this thread and ask him to comment, do you think that would seem stalker-ish?
Jess
In Angels and Insects there is an on-screen example of the expected result of naked people rubbing body parts together. IIRC, the filmmakers said they did not intend for “things to go so far” but didn’t edit it out (for versimilitude?). It got an MPAA “R” rating, but from the viewers comments on IMDB, people in the US are pretty shocked.
People in this country get shocked when they see a frickin’ nipple on the screen. :rolleyes:
Don’t forget that moviemaking is a long, drawn-out, slow, boring process. That two-minute sex scene with the twenty-seven camera angles and thirty jumps and pans you see on screen may have taken two days or more to firm.
The camera runs thirty seconds. Then the actors go back to their trailers while the cameras are moved, the lighting is redone, the mussed sheets are replaced by fresh ones, the stand-ins are measured for exposure and the stars have their smeared make-up retouched. Then they come out of their trailers, get their nipple and pubic patches carefully reapplied and rearranged, slide carefully into the bed, get into exactly the right angle, with leg placed just so and the hair draped with the perfect curve. Then there are three false starts, two bad sound jobs, the boom mike gets into the picture, the nipple patch slides off and has to be rearranged. Finally they grind against one another for ten seconds, the director yells cut and print and they go back to their trailers to start the whole process again. And that’s the short version.
This is not sex, it’s movie-making. Sorry, voyeurs.
From what I understand, actresses can wear something called a ‘pussy patch’ (seriously). That’s all I know about it, but it sounds like some sort of possibly adhesive covering thing.