BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – Michael Sheen eventually became blase about all the sex scenes his character witnesses in the new series Masters of Sex.
“I never thought I would get used to having a naked woman in front of me masturbating with a glass dildo to the point where I would almost not notice that they were there doing it any more, and that the conversation about dinner that night would be more interesting,” Sheen said. “But I actually broke that barrier in this show.
“The more you think that you are watching a show about sex, the more you ultimately are watching a show about the challenges of just connecting with human beings (and) being intimate.”
In Masters of Sex, Sheen and Lizzy Caplan play real-life sex scientists William Masters and Virginia Johnson, who back in the 1950s bucked existing norms and began in-depth research into human sexual response. Some claim their research had a direct impact on the sexual revolution of the 1960s and 1970s.
Originating on Showtime in the United States, the series debuts Sept. 29 across Canada on The Movie Network and Movie Central.
“The most challenging aspect of this whole thing for me is not about the subject matter, not the sexual elements or anything like that,” said Sheen, who is known for his roles in the movies Frost/Nixon and The Queen, and for his recurring role on the TV show 30 Rock. “The most challenging thing is to tell a story over 12 hours at a time when, certainly on the cable networks, television is the premier medium for telling stories.
“You are entering into an arena where the standard is so high, and an audience is becoming so sophisticated and expects so much more now, you simply cannot get away with anything less than absolute, diamond-like precision. That’s the challenge in an exciting way, far more than, you know, getting your clothes off.”
Caplan pointed out that even though some of the scenes in Masters of Sex are funny, the cast essentially is playing it straight, because Masters and Johnson were real-life people playing it straight.
“I mean, if you put a dildo in front of (Masters of Sex co-star) Beau Bridges’ face, people are going to laugh,” said Caplan, who is best known for the films Mean Girls and Hot Tub Time Machine and the TV show Party Down. “But we’re not really going for a joke. The actual work that was done by the real people does a lot of that work for us.
“The reason why I’m so enamoured with the character of Virginia Johnson is because, in a way, she reminds me of my mother, and what my mother did for me in being open and not judgmental. You are not going to hell. You are not dirty for asking these questions. Virginia Johnson did this for millions of women, for generations of women.
“Sometimes all you need is somebody to tell you that there’s nothing wrong with you, that you are normal. Before Masters and Johnson, nobody was telling women that. It was always their fault. And that’s some bull—t.’ ”
bill.harris@sunmedia.ca