If the birthday suit fits! Thandie Newton revealed in a new interview that she prefers acting completely naked rather than wearing her saloon costume on Westworld.
“I found myself more empowered naked than I did with the saloon outfit on,” the 44-year-old actress said during a conversation with Line of Duty creator Jed Mercurio, comparing her nude scenes in the HBO drama with the frilly costumes her brothel madam robot character Maeve Millay wears.
“I was more comfortable naked because the costume was the most potent objectification of a woman, with the boobs pushed right up, the tiny waist. It’s an invitation for sex,” Newton explained. “The fishnet tights, the little heels with the laces … It’s all about sensuality. It’s about eroticism. It’s about, ‘Look, but don’t touch.’ It’s all there to make the invitation for sex as provocative as possible and then the promise of satisfaction is practically just there.”
This isn’t the first time the actress has said that she enjoys working in her birthday suit. She told The Daily Beast in November 2016 that her character’s arc is about empowerment. However, between takes, she covers up with a dressing gown. “I wanted to talk to the crew, not have them looking down on my tits,” she told the outlet. “It wasn’t because they were being gross. What else are you going to do when they’re shoved up to your face like that? I didn’t like it.”
Newton said her nude scenes are also about embracing your vulnerability. “People treated me with respect, like they were grateful for how committed I was trying to tell the story right,” she explained to The Daily Beast. “When you truly expose yourself, when you truly show that you have nothing to hide, people are tender towards you. We associate nudity with sex. Not with vulnerability. Not with tenderness.”
