Filming a Sex Scene With Mark Wahlberg In Spenser Confidential Was Nerve-racking, Says Iliza Shlesinger

Philip Ellis

March 4, 2020 6:30 PM

In their new movie Spenser Confidential, Mark Wahlberg and Iliza Shlesinger play ex-lovers who, shall we say, reconnect during a particularly heated scene. In the middle of a recent appearance on The Late Late Show this week, Shlesinger broke down to host James Corden just how nerve-racking it was to film a sex scene with somebody as famous as Wahlberg.

The Story Behind Mark Wahlberg's Latest Sex Scene

"I was nervous," she said. "You know, there's no school for how to have sex with a huge movie star on camera. So you just show up, he's doing 8 billion other things, scene starts, and we start choreographing it, and I don't know if you remember this, but I asked for a hug halfway through, because I just had to connect to you, and I was so terrified, and I was nervous, because it's sex with Mark Wahlberg, and you can't enjoy it too much because you're still a professional, but it's still what it is."

Shlesinger was so anxious about shooting the scene, in fact, that she almost indulged in a little Dutch courage to get through it.

"One of the PAs pulled me aside... he was like 'if you're nervous, we've got a shot of tequila if you want one,'" she said. "And I was like 'that is a slippery slope... yes!' So I didn't do that, but I think it came out OK."

The conversation then turned to how filming sex scenes in general is a pretty intimidating and awkward experience as it usually involves nudity, prompting Wahlberg to explain that in this particular scene, both he and Shlesinger were fully clothed, as it took place in a restaurant bathroom while her character's boyfriend waited obliviously outside. Or as Shlesinger put it: "It's classy!"

Philip Ellis