I'm definitely on an erotic thriller kick thanks to the podcast You Must Remember This. But let's be real: at Mr. Skin, we are always into erotic thrillers. Recently, she discussed the film Indecent Proposal which made me think about the gorgeous Demi Moore and this skintastic Adrian Lyne film that made people wonder: would you let your partner sleep with someone for a price?
In 1993, Adrian Lyne directed this controversial film with a very basic and tantalizing plot. A happily married couple has their relationship put to the test when a billionaire approaches them with a proposition: he would like to pay a million dollars to sleep with his wife. Just one night. That's it. Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson play the couple while aging heartthrob Robert Redford plays the wealthy man. A million dollars for one night of sex! What's the harm? That's exactly what this film explores!
Originally, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman were cast as the couple. Who wouldn't offer that much money to sleep with 90s Nicole?! Tom, however, dropped out because of his newfound Scientology beliefs. Nicole was still into the film, but she eventually had to drop out as well. Woody Harrelson was cast even though Adrian Lyne was looking at Johnny Depp for the role. Woody dropped out of Benny and Joon to get naked on the floor with Demi Moore which actually led to Depp being cast in Benny and Joon. What a world!
Warren Beatty was the original Robert Redford character, but he dropped out as well because he wanted his character to win in the end. Redford was cast and he played the hell out of this role. In fact, his performance was crucial to the film's success. Critics were not kind to this film at the time, but it was a huge financial success at the box office.
Demi did not go as nude as one might think for this kind of film - especially not with Redford. Most of her nudity comes from her sexy scenes with Woody. Demi Moore was nervous about being in an erotic thriller like this. She was, after all, an actress in the 1990s where "thin was in" and she knew that Lyne would want her to show some skin - never mind the fact that she was cast in the role for how she looked at the moment.
She still became insecure about not looking like a man would pay a million dollars to sleep with her (ugh, so not true!). 1990s Demi was HOT!
She became anxious about how she would look on camera during these nude scenes. She thus resolved to feel comfortable getting naked in front of the camera and began working out... a lot.
By the time she was ready to shoot, she met with Adrian Lyne who was dismayed by how much weight she lost. He was so upset with the ultra-lean figure that he threatened to fire her! She had another meeting with him to try and share her concerns, but he insisted that he didn't want her to look "like a boy". He wanted her to look soft, supple, and vulnerable on camera.
In the end, he agreed to Demi's terms: letting her keep her figure and letting her see edits of the sex scenes so that she felt comfortable.
But a few interesting things happened.
Reportedly, Demi would wake up as early as 1:30 in the morning to fit in a workout before her 4 AM call times. However, this sleepless and stressful schedule had the opposite effect. She ended up gaining weight and looking like the perfect body that Lyne wanted. Not only that, but she said she wound up enjoying the way that Lyne directed sex scenes.
According to her book Inside Out, he would shout pervy things during their sex scenes - and he would NOT shut up. At first, she was startled, but she later found it funny. It ended up being the distraction that she needed to get into the zone, shoot her scenes, and feel sexy. She said that this wound up working so well that she never needed to negate the sex scenes as she initially thought she would have to. She trusted his vision and she loved the way she looked on camera.
Wildly, Adrian Lyne got everything he wanted in the end and Demi Moore was grateful to him for it. That just goes to show you that Adrian Lyne, weird as he may be, knows exactly what he is doing. Who else knows erotic thrillers like Lyne? He's the master for a reason.
