Tom Rob Smith's multifaceted family drama MotherFatherSon starring Richard Gere began last night (March 6), and while viewers seem to be unravelling its many complex layers, they'll also be coming to terms with that very unsettling sex scene.
Actor Billy Howle plays Caben – the damaged and drug-abusing son of Gere's powerful media mogul Max – in the series, and revealed his first reaction to the disturbing moment that unfolds between his character and a sex worker, and what it was like to film.
"To be honest, when I got to that moment, I was already shell-shocked [by the script]," Howle told Digital Spy and others at the screening for the first episode.
"I was so alive and so stimulated by everything that happened previously to Caben, and then there was this bizarre notion of a social interaction between two people. It's a transaction that is alien to many people, I would hope. However, I have nothing against prostitution – for some people, that's a livelihood.
"And she's a person, and I was working with a wonderful actress [Katrine De Candole] and it was done very sensitively on set. But when you're reading it and going to approach it, I didn't know what I was going to be faced with. You can only prepare so much.
"You can say we know how we're going to light it, but at that moment, at that time, you don't know what's going to happen with two good actors. And that level of spontaneity can be scary but unlike anything you've seen before."
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The eight-part series also stars Helen McCrory as Kathryn – Billy's indomitable mother, who is seemingly estranged from Max until an unimaginable tragedy hits the fragmented family and brings them back together.
MotherFatherSon continues on Wednesday on BBC Two at 9pm.
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Naomi Gordon is news writer mainly covering entertainment news with a focus on celebrity interviews and television.
