Aussie star Noni Hazlehurst shares awkward secrets of her ‘explicit’ movie sex scenes

In this extract from her newly-released memoir, Australian actor Noni Hazlehurst reveals what really goes on during the filming of a sex scene.

In this exclusive extract from her newly-released memoir Dropping the Mask, legendary Australian actor Non Hazlehurst opens up about one of her most beloved movie roles – and reveals what really goes on on set during the filming of a sex scene …

Getting a grip

My role in Monkey Grip (1982) was an actor’s dream. I was in almost every scene, which was exhausting, but exhilarating. [writer] Helen Garner was around a good deal of the time. I assumed she’d be uber cool, edgy and possibly withdrawn, and I was quite nervous about meeting her. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Helen has a genuine warmth and sweetness, and is always ready to have a laugh. She was a positive presence on set, and a huge support to me. Her dear daughter Alice was playing herself and stole every scene she was in. Helen generously allowed me to spend time with them both before shooting started, so Alice and I could get to know each other. Having lived through the experiences described in the novel, Alice had some wise insights into the adults around her, and it was obvious that Helen’s relationship with her daughter was honest and straightforward. Not yet a mother myself, it was fascinating and immensely important for me to witness their interaction, especially given that my relationship with my own mother could hardly have been more different. Helen and Alice’s openness with each other was a revelation.

Noni Hazlehurst and Colin Friels in Monkey Grip. Picture: National Film & Sound Archive

There were several explicit sex scenes in the book that were included in the film. They were an integral part of the story – my character describes their profound sexual intimacy as the reason she can’t give up on her relationship with a heroin addict. The scenes were beautifully lit and shot by our director of photography, David Gribble.

However, all was not as it seemed.

In those days, cast and key crew would gather each night to watch what we had shot the day before, called ‘the rushes’. In one scene, I was lying on my back and Colin Friels, who played

my partner Javo, had to kiss me up and down my upper body. We were shot fairly close, so it wasn’t too explicit, and the finished scene is sensuous and tenderly romantic.

The rushes were anything but. Without music to augment the scene, all we could hear, apart from the odd slurping sound, was Ken Cameron’s voice talking us through the action. ‘Slower Colin, linger there a bit more, don’t eat her, be gentle, do that thing with your fingers in your mouth again Noni, slow down Colin, go up, go down, too rough, go sideways, slower Colin,’ and so on. It was very funny.

The film included some frank yet tender sex scenes between the two leads.

When it came to shooting the actual sex scenes, they were all scheduled on the same day, with three different actors, which was a bit daunting! The first assistant offered a closed set and for the crew to be naked as well, but the thought of forty or so waving willies in my eyeline was enough to put me off sex for life, so I declined the offer. I decided to just get on with it and trust the process. I knew what the script demanded when I agreed to take the role – there was no point being precious at the last minute.

When it was Colin’s turn in the line-up of lovers, he came to set with his robe tightly tied, clearly a bit freaked out about the whole thing, and worried his bits would show. Fair enough.

We were shooting in a grand two-storey terrace in Petersham. Ken Cameron, the director, could tell that Colin was nervous, so while the crew was lighting the set, he took us, clad only in our dressing gowns, to an upstairs bedroom to rehearse. The vast room was empty except for a double mattress. Colin stayed huddled over by the door, while Ken asked me to lie on the bed. With my permission, Ken climbed on top of me to show Colin what he intended to do with the shots, to reassure him that his bits wouldn’t be seen. At that moment, the third assistant director came to tell us they were ready downstairs. He couldn’t see Colin hidden behind the door. All he saw was me flat on my back with the director on top of me. A hastier retreat has never been beaten!

Noni Hazlehurst's memoir is out now.

Hazlehurst remembers writer Helen Garner as having “genuine warmth and sweetness.”

Far scarier than the sex scenes, to my horror there was a lot of bike riding to be done – it was Helen/Nora’s main form of transport around the streets of Melbourne. I hadn’t attempted a two-wheeler since I crashed into the house in an episode of Matlock Police filmed 10 years earlier, so I asked for Nora’s prop bike well before filming started, and went to Centennial Park in Sydney to practise in the bike lane. I was fine as long as there were no parked cars to swerve around. Straight ahead I could manage, left or right, not so much. All I could hear was my mother’s voice screaming, ‘NOOOOO!’

To help me with the story arc, I drew a graph charting the emotional highs and lows of each scene. Because films are invariably shot wildly out of sequence, I knew it was important to keep a handle on where the character was emotionally at each point of the story. I started writing a diary like Helen/Nora did. John Lennon, whose battle with heroin was well-documented, had been murdered just a couple of years earlier, and his stunning album Double Fantasy was my soundtrack and inspiration during the shoot. His expressions of pure love for Yoko and his son Sean were so poignant. The song ‘Woman’ brought me to tears every time I listened to it.

Released in 1982, Monkey Grip was a gritty story of love amid drug addiction.

Nora’s love for Javo was impossible, given his addiction, and her heartache and struggle to keep her life together were profound. This was the first role I’d had on screen where I really had an opportunity to dive deep into my heart to feel her despair. I could relate.

Helen Garner’s honesty and understanding of human foibles, combined with her eclectic descriptions of the minutiae of everyday life, particularly as lived by women, make her writing feel like it’s just for you. To create art that the recipient relates to on a deeply personal level is always the mark of a great communicator. And she’s self-deprecating, funny and wry, even in the face of tragedy.

We had to film the last scene of the movie on the very first day of shooting. I was worried that, not having lived through the story, I wouldn’t do the scene justice. And I was right. Fortunately for me, Pat Lovell agreed, and somehow managed to schedule a reshoot towards the end of filming, which was a rare luxury.

Pat was a terrific producer, and had already made some unforgettable films – Picnic at Hanging Rock and Gallipoli among them. Even so, raising the budget for our film was tough. The script featured no outback scenes or sheep or corsets or men on horseback, and most

of the films made during the seventies were period dramas. Monkey Grip’s contemporary subject matter was not, on the face of it, terribly appealing. It was the director’s first feature, and there were no big names involved, but Pat’s track record ultimately spoke for itself.

However, at one point during filming she told me one of the investors had pulled out, and I believe she remortgaged her house so we could continue. She asked me not to tell Ken Cameron, as she didn’t want to freak him out. She also said she was booking herself into hospital over the weekend to have a nervous breakdown. Whether that was all true, I don’t know, but somehow the film was finished. And having seen what producers go through, a nervous breakdown over the weekend certainly seemed a possibility.

Now 71, Noni Hazlehurst is looking back on her life and career in her new book.

There was another scene between Colin and me in which Javo sits in an armchair framed by a window opposite me on the bed, telling Nora off-handedly that he can’t see the relationship continuing and that he fancies one of her friends. The news, while not entirely unexpected, is devastating to Nora nonetheless. It was the last scene of the day and we were running out of time, so the decision was made to just shoot Colin’s part because the sun was setting behind him, which looked beautiful. We would pick up the reverse coverage on me at a later date.

Colin’s delivery of the lines was exactly right, and I was deeply affected. There was a chance that when the day came to do my shot, Colin wouldn’t be available, and the first assistant might have to read his dialogue. I begged for half an hour’s overtime, and the crew, bless them, agreed. Ken Cameron hadn’t taken much notice of what I’d been doing, as his attention was understandably on Colin. I just felt that my reaction was the right one (doesn’t often happen that way) and that it was worth going for. Sure enough, just as had happened when the camera was on Colin, a single tear rolled down my face as I stoically bore the news. All that suppressed grief in one tear. Ken was happy. For my money, it’s one of the best scenes in the film.

Some actors try to pretend that the film crew doesn’t exist because they’re ‘in the zone’. While that might be necessary for certain scenes, unfortunately it’s usually a reflection of a deeper malaise – the deluded notion that the actor is more special than anyone else on set and needs to be indulged. Most crews are respectful of actors’ needs, but it works best when that attitude is reciprocated. Everyone on set has a unique set of essential skills and deserves respect. A crew, or any team for that matter, is much more likely to agree to go the extra mile if they know you regard them as equal contributors and don’t have tickets on yourself!

This is an edited extract from Dropping the Mask by Noni Hazlehurst, HarperCollins AU, $39.99, available now.

Originally published as Aussie star Noni Hazlehurst shares awkward secrets of her ‘explicit’ movie sex scenes