Has Donald Sutherland taken the truth about Don’t Look Now’s ‘frank’ sex scene to his grave? As actor dies at 88, how controversial shoot with Julie Christie in cult horror film sparked rumours neither actor could shake
When Hollywood icon Donald Sutherland died this week at the age of 88, he left behind one of Hollywood folklore’s greatest mysteries: was the sex scene in his hit 1973 horror film Don’t Look Now real?
The M*A*S*H star, who shot into the spotlight in the late 1960s, has faced speculation throughout his career about whether the erotic scene with his co-star Julie Christie was impeccably choreographed to look hyper-realistic , or that the actors had had an on-screen tryst in real life.
When the film, directed by Nicolas Roeg, was first promoted in the early 1970s, it was billed as “one of the most candid love scenes ever filmed.”
The film, set in Venice, was shot in the days long before intimacy coordinators were on set, and Sutherland and Christie became accustomed to asking questions about one of the most controversial movie sex scenes of all time.
Sutherland’s memoir, Made Up, But Still True, will be released in November.
Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie in the controversial love scene from Don’t Look Now. The first promo for the film, directed by Nicolas Roeg, called it “one of the most candid love scenes ever filmed.”
The co-stars, pictured in 1973, remained tight-lipped about the sex scene – until 2018, when Sutherland issued an outright denial.
The film adapted Daphne du Maurier’s novella of the same name and saw Sutherland and Christie play John and Laura, who flee to Venice after tragically losing their daughter.
The couple meets a pair of sisters, who claim the lost girl is trying to make contact with her parents – with the fleeting sighting of the child in the red coat giving viewers chills.
In 2018, Sutherland categorically denied that the sex scene was real.
At the New York premiere of his new film The Leisure Seeker, the then 82-year-old Sutherland said that anyone who says otherwise is “an idiot.”
In 2018, Donald Sutherland denied long-standing rumors that the sex scene in Don’t Look Now was real, saying that people who claim otherwise are “idiots.”
Sutherland said that despite the erotic nature of the scene, filming was anything but, as he and co-star Julie Christie had to stop every 15 seconds to change positions.
He said that performing the act would have been impossible as no take lasted longer than 15 seconds before the action was stopped so he and Christie could reposition.
Sutherland told the New York Daily News that he loved the scene because it “reminded you of making love.”
The scene caused problems for the censors both in Britain, where it was given an X rating, and in America, where it was given an R rating.
The creepy thriller, about a couple who lose their young daughter only to be told by a pair of sisters that the little girl is trying to contact them, became a cult horror film upon its release.
Sutherland depicted himself in a scene from the film, which was set in Venice
The scene was removed entirely by the BBC when it first aired on British television.
Rumors that the sex was real have persisted for years, helped by people like former Paramount executive Peter Bart, who said as much in his 2011 book.
In 2008, Michael Deeley, who oversaw the film’s British distribution, told the BBC that Christie’s then-boyfriend Warren Beatty had flown to London and demanded the sex scene be removed.
Sutherland has been protective of the film in the past, suggesting in 2015, when rumors of a remake circulated, that it would be an “embarrassment.”
“Why are they doing it?” he said. ‘They’re just people who want to make a profit and try to get a profit out of it [director] Nicolas Roeg, and something that is very beautiful.
‘It is a shame. They should be ashamed of themselves.’
And Christie? She has stated that it was nothing more than ‘like having sex’.
In a 2015 interview with BBC Radio 4, the now 84-year-old actor said: ‘It was just flesh squirming and rolling and touching, and God, I thought it was absolutely beautiful. I loved the winding bits and all those things you don’t see.’
Sutherland is survived by Keith and his twin sister Rachel from his marriage to ex-wife Shirley Douglas
The veteran Canadian actor’s death from a long-term illness was announced Thursday by his movie star son Kiefer Sutherland.
Sutherland’s career spanned more than 60 years. He has seen a resurgence in popularity among younger audiences in recent years thanks to his role as the evil President Snow in The Hunger Games franchise.
The Emmy and Golden Globe winner made a name for himself long before that, appearing in M*A*S*H, Klute and Don’t Look Now.
Before transitioning to a long career as a respected actor, Sutherland epitomized the unpredictable, anti-establishment cinema of the 1970s.
Donald Sutherland died this week at the age of 88, his actor son Kiefer announced. It can be seen in 2019
The tall and lean actor with a grin that could be sweet or devilish was also known as the hippie tank commander in Kelly’s Heroes and the stoned professor in Animal House.
Over the decades, Sutherland showed his range in more constricted – but still eccentric – parts in Robert Redford’s Ordinary People and Oliver Stone’s JFK.
In 2022, he appeared in what would be his final projects, Lawmen: Bass Reeves and Swimming With Sharks.
Sutherland is set to star in the upcoming apocalyptic film Heart Land, which is in pre-production.