Working as an actor requires being open to some crazy things. Having to film a sex scene can give even the most courageous and reputable actors some stage fright. But imagine if you had to have sex for real? I mean, full on penetrative intercourse. You'd think it would be illegal outside of pornography, but plenty of movies have incorporated real sex between actors in order to establish a sort of genuine authenticity to the film.

1. 1

   Nymphomaniac: Volume I

   
   Photo: Les Films du Losange

   Lars von Trier's controversial Nymphomaniac featured SIX hours of unsimulated sex scenes. When actor Shia LaBeouf signed on as a love interest opposite Stacy Martin, rumors spread about the real sex they'd perform for the film. Lars von Trier had already mentioned that his racy film would feature real intercourse. LaBeouf initially said he agreed to participate in the unsimulated scenes. However, when the film finally premiered, it was revealed that the actual sex was performed between two porn stars. LaBeouf and Martin's bodies were superimposed with CGI for the pornographic scenes.

   see more on Nymphomaniac: Volume I>
2. 2

   Love

   Photo: Wild Bunch

   Gaspar Noé's 2015 film, Love, featured real sex between actors Karl Glusman and Aomi Muyock. But Noé took his erotic romance film to the next level by producing it in 3D! Love is first and foremost about sex in 3D and only secondly about the dramatic love story between the two protagonists. Most of the sex was not choreographed and Noé admitted he hoped his film would give men "erections" and get women "wet."

4. 3

   Trainwreck

   Photo: Universal Pictures

   Whether or not Amy Schumer was joking is up for debate, but the comedian seemed pretty sincere when she admitted that her sex scene with John Cena was the real deal. According to Schumer, "he was actually inside [her.] Apparently wrestlers, they’re not faking!" Bill Hader later added that Cena "didn’t understand the whole acting thing. It was his first sex scene.” The Trainwreck scene featured Cena naked in bed with Schumer. But little did audiences know that the post-coital relationship talks were legitimately post-coital.

   alsoRANKED#8OF 38Which 2016 Golden Globes Nominees Shouldn't Win But Will?#31OF 114The Best Movies of 2015

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5. 4

   Little Ashes

   Photo: Sorolla Films

   Robert Pattinson's orgasm face (as Salvador Dalí in Little Ashes) seemed a little too real to audiences. And they weren't wrong. Pattinson recently admitted that he masturbated onscreen for the scene in order to make it realistic. According to Pattinson, faking the scene “just doesn’t work." "So I pleasured myself in front of the camera. My orgasm face is recorded for eternity," he said.

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7. 5

   Caligula

   Photo: Penthouse Films

   Penthouse Magazine founder Bob Guccione produced the intensely erotic historical drama Caligula about the fall of the Roman emperor of the same name. It can't be all that surprising that the founder of a pornographic men's magazine wanted to make a movie with unsimulated sex. The movie, starring Helen Mirren and Malcolm McDowell, featured after-the-fact sex scenes that Guccione filmed in private. Although the leads of the film didn't have sex themselves, Guccione's personal Penthouse Pets filmed unsimulated scenes for post-production.

   alsoRANKED#17OF 54The Best Roman Movies

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8. 6

   The Brown Bunny

   Photo: Wild Bunch

   The Brown Bunny is the independent Cannes film that made Chloë Sevigny a household name. It's also the film where she notoriously gave costar and director Vincent Gallo a very real and very graphic blow job. Many were suspicious about the authenticity of the fellatio scene between the two stars, but Sevigny herself has admitted that it is indeed real. The movie polarized audiences at Cannes, but it has lived in infamy for the scene that blew Sevigny onto the Hollywood landscape as a fashion icon and successful actress.

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10. 7

    Antichrist

    Photo: Nordisk Film

    Yet another Lars von Trier film, Antichrist stars Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg as two characters struggling to come to terms with their toddler's accidental death. The film takes on a whole new definition of erotic horror, and features intense sex scenes between Dafoe and Gainsbourg. One scene in particular has been credited as unsimulated. However, it did not feature the two actors, but instead utilized body doubles for the scene. The sex in Antichrist is hardly sexy and mostly remembered for being beyond creepy, especially when it comes to that one scene involving genital mutilation. Yikes.
    

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11. 8

    Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song

    Photo: Wikipedia

    Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song is known for a number of things (aside from it's ridiculously long title), primarily its subversion of the "blacksploitation" films that plagued the '70s. Melvin Van Peebles, who is almost entirely responsible for all creative aspects of the film, starred in the movie about an African-American man on the run from the white police. Van Peebles also notoriously engaged in real sex for the film's raunchiest scenes. He was credited with performing all of his own "stunts..."
    

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13. 9

    Pink Flamingos

    Photo: New Line Cinema

    Pink Flamingos is considered one of the grossest movies ever made. It starred a drag queen named Divine who has been labeled "the filthiest person alive." Unsurprisingly, this movie is mostly known for its crude scenes and even cruder sex scenes. In likely the film's most famous moment, Divine gives unsimulated fellatio to a man who is playing her son in the film. The movie was banned in several countries, including Australia and Canada, for this scene alone.

    alsoRANKED#49OF 99The Most Nausea-Inducing Great Films#112OF 226The Best Hipster Movies

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14. 10

    The Idiots

    Photo: October Films

    Lars von Trier appears again with his controversial 1998 film The Idiots. The story is about a group of friends who give up their inhibitions and decide to act on their "idiot" qualities. Although most of the sex scenes, which include some orgies and a whole lot nakedness, are actually faked, there is a particular scene that shows unsimulated intercourse. You can't see the couple's faces, but you can see them having penetrative sex in one of the orgy scenes. The film got the okay for a theatrical release, but future editions of the scene were pixelated.

    see more on The Idiots>
15. 11

    9 Songs

    Photo: Optimum Releasing

    Michael Winterbottom's 9 Songs came under fire for featuring real intercourse between actors Kieran O'Brien and Margo Stilley. Both penetrative and oral sex are shown on screen, as well as a controversial moment in which O'Brien ejaculates. While production filmed nine live performances from prominent rock bands, it's mostly remembered for some very NSFW sex scenes.

    see more on 9 Songs>
16. 12

    Lie with Me

    Photo: THINKfilm

    Lie with Me has a lot of sex, and those sex scenes looked pretty realistic to audiences. So much so, in fact, that people started probing about their authenticity. The L Word's Lauren Lee Smith and actor Eric Balfour starred as lovers in the film, and both eventually owned up to the fact that their naughty scenes were actually unsimulated. The decision shocked critics mainly because both actors are fairly famous and well-known.

    see more on Lie with Me>
17. 13

    Wetlands

    Photo: Strand Releasing

    Wetlands is not a film for the faint of heart. It stars Carla Juri as a hypersexual teenager who refuses to uphold even the most fundamental hygienic standards of cleanliness. She also engages in some lewd sexual activities, including masturbating with vegetables. One scene shows a group of men ejaculating on top of a pizza, which was in no way sugarcoated for the big screen.

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18. 14

    Shortbus

    Photo: THINKfilm

    A group of young people in New York trying to find themselves emotionally. Sounds like the plot of Rent, right? Nope, it;s the erotic drama Shortbus. Known primarily for featuring unsimulated sex scenes, the movie is about an array of quirky young people who meet at a sex saloon on a weekly basis to "connect" with people. The actors were encouraged to have real orgasms, especially for the final orgy scene. Director John Cameron Mitchell can be seen in the final scene, eating out a woman for the first time. Mitchell cited team solidarity as his reason for participating in the sex.

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19. 15

    Intimacy

    Photo: Empire Pictures

    Intimacy tells the story of two strangers who engage in anonymous sex. Actors Mark Rylance and Kerry Fox participated in unsimulated sex for the roles. The film, which features Fox giving Rylance fellatio, is surprisingly considered mainstream.

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20. 16

    In the Realm of the Senses

    Photo: Argo Films

    In the Realm of the Senses is a Japanese erotic drama about a man who leaves his wife for another woman (his mistress). The two engage in various experimental sex, but it's the ending that shocked viewers most. Eiko Matsuda's Sada kills her lover, Kichizō, through autoerotic asphyxiation. She then proceeds to castrate him and carry his penis inside her for several days. While the castration was nowhere near real, the very graphic sex scenes were, causing audiences to feel a little sickened by the whole thing.

    see more on In the Realm of the Senses>
21. 17

    Last Tango in Paris

    Photo: Wikipedia

    Maria Schneider asserted that the sex scenes in Last Tango in Paris were far from real. She has stated that there was no chemistry between herself and Marlon Brando, but that still hasn't quieted people's suspicions. The film is notorious for its sexually aggressive and raw material. Schneider doesn't look back fondly on the filming experienced. "I felt humiliated and to be honest, I felt a little raped, both by Marlon and by Bertolucci. After the scene, Marlon didn’t console me or apologize. Thankfully, there was just one take," she shared. Whether or not the scenes were real, speculation still shrouds the set in mystery.[ranker]