Why Henry Cavill has admitted he's 'not a fan' of sex scenes

Fair enough

Henry Cavill attends 'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.' photocall at Claridge's Hotel on July 23, 2015 in London, England
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Henry Cavill doesn't love sex scenes — watching or filming them.

The Superman star admitted to this cinematic preference of his in a recent interview on the podcast Happy Sad Confused, alongside Argylle director Matthew Vaughn.

After Matthew told host Josh Horowitz that he never directs sex scenes if he can help it, Henry jumped in to agree with the director's stance.

"I also don’t understand [sex scenes]—I’m not a fan," the actor said.

He continued: "There are circumstances where a sex scene actually is beneficial to a movie, rather than just the audience, [but] I think sometimes they’re overused these days.

"It’s when you have a sense where you’re going, 'Is this really necessary or is it just people with less clothing on?' And that’s where you start to get more uncomfortable and you’re thinking, 'There’s not a performance here. There’s not a piece which is going to carry through into the rest of the movie.'"

Henry further clarified his stance, saying: "Sex scenes can be great in a movie. They can really help with the storytelling. But most of the time, the human imagination is going to trump it, and so I think it can be a little bit of a cop-out if a TV show or a movie is just filled with sort of gyrating bodies, and you're going, 'OK, but what is this doing for us?' apart from the idea of like, 'Ooh, naked person. Great.'"

Matthew then quipped: "Or we're just English prudes." Well, nothing wrong with that!

Henry and Matthew worked together on Argylle, which was released on 2 February in cinemas across the UK. The film has a star-studded cast, with Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, Bryan Cranston, Dua Lipa, Ariana DeBose, John Cena and more starring in it alongside Henry.

Iris Goldsztajn
Iris Goldsztajn is a celebrity and royal news writer for Marie Claire. As a London-based freelance journalist, she writes about wellness, relationships, pop culture, beauty and more for the likes of InStyle, Women's Health, Bustle, Stylist and Red. Aside from her quasi-personal investment in celebs' comings and goings, Iris is especially interested in debunking diet culture and destigmatising mental health struggles. Previously, she was the associate editor for Her Campus, where she oversaw the style and beauty news sections, as well as producing gift guides, personal essays and celebrity interviews. There, she worked remotely from Los Angeles, after returning from a three-month stint as an editorial intern for Cosmopolitan.com in New York. As an undergraduate at the University of California, Los Angeles, she interned at goop and C California Style and served as Her Campus' national style and LGBTQ+ editor. Iris was born and raised in France by a French father and an English mother. Her Spotify Wrapped is riddled with country music and One Direction, and she can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.