Despite her long record as one of Britain's most acclaimed and experienced actors, Emma Thompson has never done a nude scene---until now.

The Academy Award winner's most recent film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival over the weekend to critical acclaim. Good Luck to You, Leo Grande follows Thompson's character, an aged widow who hires a male sex worker to help her have her first orgasm.

Thompson, who had never gone full frontal for the camera before, described the difficulty in doing the scene, as her character "just stands in front of a mirror alone and drops her robe."

She stated,

"I don’t think I could’ve done it before the age that I am. And yet, of course, the age that I am makes it extremely challenging because we aren’t used to seeing untreated bodies on the screen."

Being nude can make one feel vulnerable no matter the setting. Thompson shared how she and her costar navigated the intimacy of such difficult scenes.

"[Director] Sophie [Hyde], Daryl, and I rehearsed entirely nude and talked about our bodies, talked about our relationship with our bodies, drew them, discussed the things that we find difficult about, things we like about them, described one another's bodies."

A proper intimacy coordinator can make any set feel safe and comfortable, but Thompson claims insecurity mostly stems from the world outside of the studio. She says that especially in her age, she is not free from Hollywood's rigid beauty standards.

"Nothing has changed in the dreadful demands made upon women in the real world but also in acting. This thing of having to be thin is still the same as it ever was, and actually in some ways I think it’s worse now."

Thompson's full Sundance Cinema Cafe discussion can be viewed here.