Rob Lowe Says ‘Nobody Has Sex Scenes in Movies Anymore’ During Chat with Kristin Davis: ‘In Our Day, It Was Required’

Mar. 15, 2025

Rob Lowe in 2025.Photo:JB Lacroix/WireImage

JB Lacroix/WireImage

Rob Lowehas a hard time seeing sex scenes as “brave" because in his heyday, they were practically “required," he says.

TheSt. Elmo’s Fireactor, 60, sparked a conversation about the evolution of NSFW scenes withKristin Davisduring the Feb. 27 episode of his podcast,Literally! With Rob Lowe. The chat kicked off after Lowe mentioned a particularly steamy film in his filmography,Masquerade, because it also starred Davis’Sex and the CitycostarKim Cattrall.

“I love that movie,” he said of the 1988 romantic thriller, a declaration that Davis, 60, enthusiastically seconded. The movie, which also starredMeg Tilly, got “good reviews,” Lowe recalled, “but the studio kind of dumped it because they thought it was too sexy.”

“I know, can you imagine such a thing?” theSATCstar said, prompting Lowe to point out that, in the studio’s defense, the sex scenes were “pretty gratuitous.”

Rob Lowe and Meg Tilly in ‘Masquerade’ from 1998.Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/Getty

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/Getty

“But it wasgreat. It was sexy. I wish we had sexy movies now,” Davis pushed back, as Lowe agreed: “Nobody has sex scenes in movies anymore.”

Recalling the erotic thriller, which follows a kinky affair between a tech CEO (Nicole Kidman) and intern (Harris Dickinson), Lowe reversed his earlier claim about the lack of steaminess in today’s movies. “I take it back. … It’s pretty great. It’s pretty hot,” he said of the film.

Davis, meanwhile, pointed out that it is still “unusual” that the A24 flick is an outlier, not the norm. “We’re like, ‘Oh, thank God someone made a sexy movie,’ like, it’s an unusual thing now,” she said.

Rob Lowe and Kristin Davis on the ‘Literally! With Robe Lowe’ podcast.Rob Lowe/Youtube

Rob Lowe/Youtube

Lowe, meanwhile, said that what grinds his gears about the conversation around sex scenes today is the tendency to call actors “brave” just for participating in them.

“Oh, when they’re like, ‘It’s so brave. She’s so brave.’ She’s ‘brave’ because she has a sex scene. Like, that’s brave now, and in our day, it was required,” he said, before asking Davis if she remembers the “page 73 rule” — a “rule” actors previously used to determine whether a screenplay had any NSFW scenes.

“There was the page 73 rule. Back in the day, the sex scene was always on page 73,” he explained, recalling that “you didn’t have to read the whole script — you just went to page 73, because that middle second act.”

“But now it’s so brave,” he added sarcastically. “It’ssobrave.”

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Niko Tavernise/A24

“That’s what made it so compelling, was being in the hands of [directorHalina Reijn], because I knew she wasn’t gonna exploit me,” she told reporters last August. “I mean, however anyone interprets that,Ididn’t feel exploited. I felt very much a part of it. It’s the story that I wanted to be a part of, that I wanted to tell. And every part of me was committed to that.”

source: people.com