Florence Pugh reveals uncomfortable sex scene with ‘Oppenheimer’ co-star Cillian Murphy

“It broke.” Florence Pugh has revealed an excruciatingly awkward moment while filming an intimate scene with her Oppenheimer co-star Cillian Murphy.

“No one knows this.”

Florence Pugh has revealed an uncomfortable problem that arose while filming one of her several – controversial – sex scenes with co-star Cillian Murphy for the award-winning thriller, Oppenheimer.

The British actress, 28, plays Jean Tatlock in the film, who shares an on-and-off fling with Murphy’s J. Robert Oppenheimer.

During a panel discussion with Murphy and fellow cast member Emily Blunt, Pugh recalled how she and Murphy were left idle while naked on-set after a technical difficulty.

“In the middle of our sex scene, the camera broke. No one knows this, but it did,” Pugh told moderator Jamie Dornan. “Our camera broke when we were both naked, and it was not ideal timing.”

Florence Pugh shares several intimate scenes with Oppenheimer co-star Cillian Murphy.

“Cillian and I are in this room together. It’s a closed set, so we’re both holding our bodies like this,” Pugh added, simulating concealing her body.

“I’m like, well, this is my moment to learn. ‘So tell me, what’s wrong with this camera?’ You just make your moments. I’m like, ‘What’s going on with the shutter here, buddy?’”

Pugh said the pair were “holding our bodies” to conceal their modesty.

Pugh and Murphy star in Oppenheimer.

Oppenheimer’s X-rated scenes were the topic of much controversy upon the movie’s release in July last year, with some conservative countries opting to censor Pugh’s body parts.

Screenshots for the film which circulated on social media at the time showed how censors in the Middle East and India, where rules around nudity and sex on screen are stricter, dealt with one particular scene.

In the original, unedited version of the film, Pugh’s character sits topless in a chair in a hotel room as she and Murphy’s character have a conversation. In the censored version, a black dress was computer generated onto the star’s body:

The best ever cg work in India award goes to the Indian censor board for florence pugh black dress in #Oppenheimerpic.twitter.com/VRPBy0ARKp

— lucho 🇪🇸 (@busigoatt) July 23, 2023

The Christopher Nolan-directed film, which has been nominated for a staggering 13 Oscars including Best Picture, tells the true story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the inventor of the nuclear bomb.

With its release on the same day as Greta Gerwig’s much-hyped Barbie movie, the two films sparked a movie-going frenzy, bringing in huge box office numbers around the world and sparking the ‘Barbenheimer’ pop culture movement.

While Barbie won the box office war, making $US1.446 billion compared to Oppenheimer’s $US953 million, the atomic bomb epic has dominated awards season thus far.

It won Best Motion Picture – Drama at the Golden Globes, Best Picture overall at the Critics Choice awards and is tipped to sweep the upcoming Academy Awards on March 11.

Originally published as Florence Pugh reveals uncomfortable sex scene with ‘Oppenheimer’ co-star Cillian Murphy