Featured Image Credit: FX
Topics: Entertainment, Sex & Co., TV
Sarah Halle Corey
We’re unfortunately living in some un-horny times. It seems like every other day there’s some new attack on women’s rights, people are turning to the 4B movement to spark sex boycotts, and for some reason, incest is having a moment on TV. So it’s totally understandable if you’re not in the mood these days. But there is a new TV show that’s spicing things up and could be the remedy society needs. I’m talking about the FX series Dying For Sex. The new show tells the story of Molly, a woman diagnosed with terminal cancer who decides to spend the end of her life exploring her sexuality.
Yeah, so it’s a show about both cancer and sex, which might not sound like the horniest combo at first. But, if you think about it, is there anything sexier than wanting to spend your last days on earth seeking out pleasure? And Molly seeks it out in many different ways. Dying For Sex is based on the real-life story of Molly Kochan, who made a podcast with her best friend Nikki Boyer and recounted the almost 200 hookups she had during her sexual exploration quest. The TV show doesn’t quite make it to 200 hookups, but it does show a lot of them, and the sex scenes are genuinely hot.
So how did the creators of Dying For Sex make such a horny show? It’s worth checking out these wild behind-the-scenes stories from the set of Dying For Sex to understand how it all, uh, came together.
Michelle had never before simulated masturbation on screen for any previous projects. That all changed with Dying For Sex, which features a scene of Molly spending an entire day with her vibrator, à la Samantha Jones from Sex and the City. Michelle worked hard to make sure each of Molly’s orgasms was unique. “You’ve already done, like, four scenes, and then it’s five o’clock at night and you have to do six masturbation sequences with six sculpted, individuated orgasms,” Michelle told Vulture. But, she wants to make sure audiences know it’s all acting. “I just kept joking, like, ‘Just so you know, this is how Molly comes, not Michelle,'” she said. “This is not my come face.”
Rob Delaney plays a guy who asks Molly to kick him in the dick. Yep, you read that right; it’s all part of a domination fantasy, and Molly is totally game. Apparently the crew spent most of one day working on this scene, which meant Rob received “nine or ten kicks to the nuts,” he told Vulture. “We rode the hell out of that thing,” Michelle added. “But I don’t think I hurt him.” I hope not!
Dying For Sex does not shy away from kink. From a “sex party potluck,” to discussions of consensual orgasm torture, to a scene where Molly pees on a man dressed as a puppy. None of it was too much for the TV network, although FX reportedly did request the producers pull back on the male full-frontal nudity. The obliged — but only slightly — so there are still plenty of dicks in Dying For Sex.
The cancer-meets-sex storyline really gets it’s due in one scene when Molly gives a blow job from her hospital bed. Apparently the real-life Molly kept busy from the hospital, too. “She liked to buy beautiful lingerie, it made her feel great, and she would take beautiful photos of herself, hide her scars, send these selfies out, and communicate with strangers,” Michelle told The Guardian. “When she was no longer able to have bodily encounters, she was still sexting from her hospital bed.”
The Dying For Sex creators of the show took a very positive approach to all the sex scenes, even the ones that aren’t really that sexy. In one episode, Molly hooks up with a guy in the backseat of an Uber and he prematurely ejaculates. “It isn’t making fun of him, it isn’t ‘How lame, what a disappointment,’ Michelle explained to The Guardian. “It’s thrilling and exhilarating, just to radically accept people as they are.” Radical acceptance, what a beautiful concept!