EMMA Thompson’s naked scene in her new film about an older woman hiring a sex worker is “probably the hardest thing I have ever had to do”, she told the Sundance film festival yesterday.

The Oscar-winning actress stars as a repressed former schoolteacher who pays a handsome male escort for the sexual adventures she regrets having shunned as a younger woman in Good Luck to You, Leo Grande.

The heartfelt comedy set almost entirely in a hotel room addresses the ethics of sex work and taboos surrounding ageing and motherhood – and sees Thompson tackle several intimate and nude scenes.

The actors and director rehearsed “entirely nude” and played games that involved discussing their bodies on the scaled-down set to build trust.

Still, “it was very challenging to be nude at 62”, Thompson told an online panel.

“I don’t think I could have done it before the age that I am. Yet, of course the age that I am makes it extremely challenging because we are not used to seeing untreated bodies on the screen.”

In addition to sexual scenes with Daryl McCormack, 29, Thompson’s character disrobes before a mirror and looks at her body “in a completely relaxed, un-judgmental way”.

“I have never done that… She does not alter herself, lift herself up, suck her stomach in, turn around or try to alter what she sees,” said Thompson.

Despite trusting the filmmakers, she said she “found it fantastically hard to do”.

“Probably the hardest thing I have ever had to do really – and that is interesting in itself.

“That tells the whole story of my life as a woman surrounded by impossible demands and images of bodies.

“That is the great tragedy of the female body in the 20th and 21st centuries, and it is a narrative that we absolutely have to change.”

New docuseries We Need to Talk About Cosby premiered at Sundance yesterday.

It focuses on the gulf between Bill Cosby’s decades-long status as “America’s dad” and long-simmering allegations of serial sexual assault.

Cosby was found guilty of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman, but his conviction was overturned on a technicality last year. He is currently free.

The series, described by The Hollywood Reporter as a “provocative and important” attempt to spark conversation about the scandal, airs on US network Showtime from January 30.

Sharp Stick, the first new film in over a decade from Girls creator Lena Dunham, also premiered at Sundance yesterday.

The Sundance festival will run until January 30. – AFP, January 23, 2022.