Aaron Sorkin, Master Of Dialogue, Terrible With Sex Scenes

October 15, 2015
JACK-BLACKBUSH

Guess It's Hard To Write A Sex Scene When The Characters Are Walking And Talking Down A Hallway

Aaron Sorkin is without a doubt one of the best writers of this generation. He is a master of dialogue and very sharp when it comes to wit, but there is something that Sorkin admits he has trouble writing… sex.

Yes, the act of making love, is tricky for Sorkin as he learned while working on the 1993 Alec Baldwin/Nicole Kidman thriller Malice. Director Harold Becker wanted a sex scene added to the film and Sorkin delivered a four page scene of probably the wittiest sexy talk ever ending with Baldwin and Kidman falling into bed. But Becker wasn’t impressed; he needed more details.

“Harold said, 'Just look at Nicole. Just write what you’d like to see her do.’ And I said, 'I’m not going to write that down!’”

So Sorkin, Becker, and a few others got together to come up with a super sexy sex scene and the result left Sorkin feeling not all that happy.

“Alec says, 'I’m going to take you upstairs and f— you now.’ And I was mortified — not necessarily because it was the wrong line in the scene. I was just mortified that anyone in the audience would think that was something that I think is cool to say.”

Of course, Sorkin isn’t anti-sex, he thinks very fondly of sex, but when it comes to expressing sex on paper, it’s a little harder (no pun intended… okay, maybe a little pun intended).

“I can’t emphasize this enough — huge fan of sex, in any combination you want,” he said. “But for some reason it’s difficult for me to write.”

I can’t be the only person on the planet who wants to see what the four page Aaron Sorkin sex scene looks like. I’m pretty sure it's amazingly well written, full of clever quips and witty comebacks. Sure, it may not be hot, but I bet it’s still pretty sexy.