Jack O’Connell on dancing naked in the rain in Lady Chatterley’s Lover

Actor Jack O’Connell has opened up about the scene in the latest film version of Lady Chatterley’s Lover that will get everyone talking. It shows him and co-star Emma Corrin dancing naked in the rain, and that came with its own range of problems as the actor explains. Lady Chatterley’s Lover is released on Netflix on 9 December, 2022.

Video transcript

FREDA COOPER: There's one thing that I think anybody who sees the film will remember and that's when you're dancing naked in the rain. I've been told that it took about a day to shoot that film. Is that true?

JACK O'CONNELL: Yeah. Yeah, to shoot the scene was dedicated a whole day to it. But I think that was scheduled. And I think that was just kind of maybe an act of courtesy to us so that we didn't feel rushed or and feel like we had time to knuckle down and get it-- and get it right. Because if we did, then hopefully it was going to be a very memorable scene.

FREDA COOPER: So how cold was the rain?

JACK O'CONNELL: Cold. Tepid. Yeah, tepid. They can't warm it up, you see, because then you see the steam. I know. Cruel.

FREDA COOPER: Yeah, that could have been a bit shivery.

JACK O'CONNELL: It comes with this whole-- its own range of problems.

FREDA COOPER: Problems. Yes. Perhaps I won't ask about those.

JACK O'CONNELL: Yeah, yeah.

FREDA COOPER: [LAUGHS]

It looked like real rain. So it made me wonder if it was actually quite chilly for them when it was being shot.

LAURE DE CLERMONT-TONNERRE: No, it wasn't real rain, sadly. We wished it was, but no, it wasn't. It wasn't. It was very sunny that day.

And we were all waiting for rain, but it never came. So which is odd for England because oh, it's going to rain, 100%. No, not this time. So we had like Paul's rain. And it was not warm, but it wasn't very cold either. So it wasn't-- but still very challenging for the actors because they had to do it for one day, the entire day.

So to help them, we had like-- they brought percussive music, very loud, to help them being in the mood and to feel like a liberating feeling. And actually it was very liberating for all of us. We wished we would also, like, get undressed and run with them naked.

FREDA COOPER: Join in.

LAURE DE CLERMONT-TONNERRE: It just felt so joyful, and so liberating, and ecstatic. We were like, we were envious. But yes, I mean, we prepared psychologically, emotionally that scene. We talked a lot about it. We all had the same goal.

And Emma, when she-- when Emma came on board, they said, it's going to be the most crazy things I will ever do in my life. And I want to do it. I want to experience it. And they did it so beautifully.