Rosamund Pike Claims Nude Scenes ‘Never Benefit The Woman’ Performing

Rosamund Pike has shared her take on on-screen nudity, based on experiences from her own career.

Over the years, the Oscar nominee has appeared nude on both the stage and screen, most notably in the film A Private War and the play Hitchcock Blonde.

While discussing her new Netflix comedy Ladies First in an interview with GQ Hype, Rosamund was asked about times she’d felt “patronised” in the workplace.

“In Hitchcock Blonde, the first play I did after [the James Bond film Die Another Day], there was a moment where I had to walk across the stage naked,” she recalled.

The Saltburn star continued: “I remember the director taking me out for lunch in this quite smart Italian restaurant and asking if I understood the implications that in this scene, she is naked.

“It was such a double-edged sword, because I could see the whole thing unfolding. I knew exactly what this meeting was. This was the director, assuaging his own conscience: ‘I’ve done it in the proper way; I’ve taken her out for lunch, we’ve discussed in very gentlemanly fashion that she will be required to be naked, but she also knows that I’m offering her an absolutely plum role’.

“And as an actress, you know that the role is great, but in order to do the role, you have to appear naked.”

She noted that the same thing “happened again” ahead of shooting her nude scenes in A Private War.

“[Director] Matthew Heineman discussed with me in the same empathetic way – ‘The thing is, the film would really benefit from this. It’s about her total vulnerability at this point’,” she explained.

“I said, ‘Matt, I know what you’re asking me.’ I think he meant it – he did want it for his film, but ultimately, the end result was for his film.”

She added: “It didn’t benefit me. It never benefits the woman to be naked.”

Rosamund noted that it was the “performative” nature of the “faux consideration” that irked her, although she claimed to still be friends with both of the directors in question.

“But then what’s the alternative?” she observed. “You don’t want the alternative, which is an assumption that you will just do it. So it is the right thing to do, but it’s a slightly performative exchange.”

Elsewhere in her GQ Hype interview, Rosamund opened up about the introduction to a new generation of viewers afforded to her by her performance in Saltburn – and weighed in on rumours that her former co-star Jacob Elordi is in the running to play James Bond.

Rosamund previously starred opposite Pierce Brosnan as 007 in Die Another Day, and spoke candidly about her feelings towards the film now to GQ Hype.

Check out Rosamund Pike’s full interview in GQ Hype for yourself here.