'The Flight Attendant': How Kaley Cuoco filmed her first 'true sex' scene and how she was taught to 'fake' it
Spoilers for 'The Flight Attendant'
HBO Max's original 'The Flight Attendant' releases its first three episodes. The murder mystery is based on the novel of the same name by New York Times best-selling author Chris Bohjalian. The series follows the protagonist, drunk party girl and Imperial airlines flight attendant Cassie Bowden, who wakes up next to a corpse after a fun-filled night in Bangkok. Since its release, news broke about how lead actor Kaley Cuoco struggled to film her sex scene in the series, calling it her first "true" one.
Reports revealed that Cuoco was "coached" by her co-star Michiel Huisman who plays the role of Alex Sokolov to get through her "first true sex scene" in the miniseries, so as to make it look "believable." The scene takes place in the airplane toilet. The actress is well known for her role as Penny in the now-completed CBS sitcom 'The Big Bang Theory' which didn't see her film actual full-blown sex scenes.
The sex scene in 'The Flight Attendant' is hot and heavy, for lack of a better way to put it, and according to The Sun, Cuoco "couldn't get into the mood" to film it. Since this was her first time shooting such a scene, it makes sense — Cuoco revealed to USA Today, "Network 8 o’clock TV is a little different than HBO Max all hours of the night." She further explained that while she had "scenes like that" on 'The Big Bang Theory', it wasn't "a true sex scene." "I told Michiel, 'I’ve never done this before. Have you done it before?' He goes, 'Yeah, like 30, 40 times. And I was like, 'WHAT'?," she added. You may remember that Huisman is known for his role as Daario Naharis in 'Game of Thrones' and for his many intimate scenes.
Turns out that Huisman was able to give her valid advice (if you've watched the episodes) as the sex scene was quite believable. Cuoco admitted that when the action was called, she wasn't "giving it" her all and that Huisman told her, "It looks like you’re hovering over a public toilet. What are you doing?". The actress reportedly told her co-star, "I don’t know what I’m doing" and revealed that Huisman had to "teach" her "to have fake sex."
Since Huisman is present mostly as a ghost in the miniseries after Cassie Bowden finds him dead in the hotel room, this scene was the only one that involved that much intimacy. Cuoco's character as Penny didn't involve intimacy to such a degree — more PG we would say — in her sitcom days when she played girlfriend to Leonard (Johnny Galecki). While the actress may have struggled in HBO Max's adaptation, she pulled it off quite well. Her role as Cassie was her first major live-action since 'The Big Bang Theory' ended last year in 2019. The actress said, “This is definitely my coming-out party in the sense of showing everyone I can do something other than comedy.”
The first three episodes of 'The Flight Attendant' premiered on HBO Max on November 26, and will be followed by the launch of two new episodes on December 3, two episodes on December 10, and the finale episode on December 17.