Ben Affleck Trolls His Own ‘Live By Night’ Sex Scenes With Sienna Miller

For Warner Bros.’ latest crime drama, Ben Affleck plays infamous gangster Joe Coughlin, and in creating the story for Live by Night, Affleck and his female lead, Sienna Miller, found themselves testing the bounds of their friendship. Live by Night threw Miller and Ben together as lovers in scenes that were intended to come off as erotic and passionate as the rest of the film was thrilling and earnest. While Sienna feels the love scenes translate well onto the big screen, Ben Affleck, who also directed the film, feels that the sex scenes were far less appealing than he had intended and he says he only has himself to blame.

Live By Night‘s Ambitious Sex Scenes Through Sienna Miller’s Eyes

Sex scenes are difficult and awkward to film under the most normal circumstances, but, when one partner must also serve as the film’s director, as E! News reveals was the case with Live by Night, the situation becomes that much more strained for both actors. That was the situation Ben Affleck and Sienna Miller faced, and while Ben also found himself having to give Sienna some directorial guidance, the Live by Night actress says their sex scenes weren’t at all awkward for her.

“It’s hysterical,” Miller says. “Ben and I are like brother and sister, thank God, so there was no awkwardness. There was just a lot of stupid giggling. He’s very professional—I am not, but he is. In that environment, it was a cool scene.”

That was just one straightforward scene. The worst was yet to come. Sienna reveals there is a montage of sex scenes later in Live by Night in which her character and Affleck’s Joe Coughlin are seen having sex in a variety of places, including in a car and in a bar. Miller adds that shooting the footage took nine hours, and by the time it was done, she was crying from both exhaustion and the absurdity of the situation.

There was one segment of the shooting schedule in which Affleck had the director of photography, Robert Richardson, film without interruption, so he and Miller could continuously film the same sex scene over and over.

“I was like, ‘OK, obviously Joe Coughlin is a real performer.’ This happened three times, and by the third I [finally said], ‘Are you joking?'” 35-year-old Sienna Miller laughed. “And then I was like, ‘I don’t know what you’re trying to tell people, Ben, about your sexual prowess—your abilities.'”

Ben Affleck On His Live By Night Sexcapades

As Vulture reports, Ben Affleck, the actor once voted the Sexiest Man Alive by People, is now doubting his sex appeal and his ability to perform as a competent lover on the big screen. In speaking about his scenes with Sienna Miller in Live by Night, Affleck reveals a lack of self-confidence rarely seen in Hollywood A-listers. Ben shared that he used camera trickery and flattering angles to present himself in the best possible light, suggesting that he feels he’s lost some of his appeal.

Even through those methods of manipulating the scenes and directing the Live by Night sex scenes in ways to limit his own exposure, Affleck suggests there was at least one sex scene far too troubling to make it into the finished cut.

“I had to cut it out, it was that depressing,” says Affleck. “I looked like a sick polar bear.”

When it came to filming that montage of sex scenes, there was no escaping it, so Affleck, as Miller suggested, jumped in full force and created a sexual marathon for the both of them. As Miller previously described, Ben ordered a continuous shot, but Affleck now reveals that he took Sienna by surprise with this segment of filming.

“You start the scene—you get to the end—you go back to the beginning. Sienna thought that I was trying to make myself out to be some kind of world champion, where it just never ended,” Affleck laughed. “I just keep going, going, and going again and again. She started laughing and I was like, ‘Laughing isn’t really the response that I’m looking for with this.’ She was like, ‘How long can you go? You’re Superman!'”

The Live by Night director adds that, while he never spoke with Sienna in advance about his intention, he hoped she would “just go with it” and help him get the scenes shot in one take. Once the actress figured out what Ben wanted for the Live by Night montage, she played along with Affleck.

Live by Night, starring Ben Affleck, Sienna Miller, and Elle Fanning, hits theaters on January 13.

[Featured Image by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images]