Jake Gyllenhaal Reveals Sex Scenes With Jennifer Aniston Were ‘Awkward’
Jake Gyllenhaal had a crush on Jennifer Aniston before they starred together in the 2002 movie The Good Girl. He admitted that filming intimate moments with the Friends star was “torture” and “awkward,” however, and Aniston suggested they use the “pillow technique” during a sex scene.
Jake Gyllenhaal dished on his ‘awkward’ sex scenes with Jennifer Aniston
During an Oct. 4 interview on The Howard Stern Show, the host asked Gyllenhaal about working with Aniston, specifically digging into their intimate on-screen moments. Gyllenhaal went into the movie with a crush on Aniston, so that added an extra layer to how “awkward” it is to film sex scenes.
When Stern asked if filming those scenes with Aniston was arousing for Gyllenhaal, the actor shot down the idea, pointing out that it’s not a “turn on” because of the number of people watching and the choreography involved.
“You did a film with Jennifer Aniston, the movie was called The Good Girl, and you have even said, ‘I had such a crush on Jennifer for years and now, all of a sudden, I ended up in this romantic scenes with her,'” Stern said. “It was torture for you, right, as an actor?”
Gyllenhaal shared that it was “a mix” of feelings. “Oh yeah, it was torture, yes it was. Yes,” he said. “But it was also not torture. I mean, come on. It was like a mix of both.”
Stern wondered if Gyllenhaal warned Aniston that he might get turned on during their intimate scenes, but the actor said there was no possibility of that happening. “You know, weirdly loves scenes are awkward because there are maybe 30, 50 people watching it,” the actor explained. “Maybe if you have a closed set, it’s less. That doesn’t turn me on. Most of the time, it’s oddly mechanical. Also, it’s a dance … you’re choreographing for a camera.”
He went on to compare it to filming a fight scene. “You gotta choreograph those things,” the actor shared. “And I always have tried.”
Jennifer Aniston used the ‘pillow technique’ for the movie
Gyllenhaal couldn’t remember too many specifics but did recall that the Friends star wanted a pillow in the mix. “I do remember a pillow. Yeah, the pillow technique was used,” he explained.
“That was just preemptive and used generally always when actually in a horizontal place in that movie,” he continued. “Everything else was whatever it was — because we did a lot of making out on boxes in a back room.”
“I think that was actually a Jennifer suggestion,” the actor added. “I think she was actually very kind to suggest it before we began. She was like, ‘I’m putting a pillow here.’ That was all she said, I think I remember that.”
In a 2016 interview with People, Gyllenhaal was asked about some of the stars he’s worked with and shared that it was “lovely” to work with Aniston. “She’s a rough one, you know, not likable. So hard to compliment,” he joked. “I will say, I had a crush on her for years. And working with her was not easy … I was — um, yeah. That’s all I’m going to say. It was lovely. It wasn’t hard, that’s what I would say.”
