Aubrey Plaza describes filming 'nightmare' real life sex-scene

Aubrey Plaza has done a lot on screen – awkward deadpan, sinister seduction, even a Marvel witch – but filming her first sex scene? That’s one memory she’s not exactly rushing to relive.

In a recent interview, Plaza opened up about shooting a scene for the 2013 comedy The To Do List, in which her character Brandy Klark explores a checklist of sexual experiences before heading off to college.

The cast was stacked (Bill Hader, Rachel Bilson, Andy Samberg, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse) but it was Plaza’s solo scene that ended up making headlines.

Specifically, a scene where Brandy masturbates. Plaza, unaware of the logistics going in, thought she’d be acting the moment. Instead, the actress was told she’d be performing the act, on camera. Sort of.

“It was a nightmare,” she told The New York Times. “I was like, this is the weirdest acting job I’ve ever had in my life,” she said of the movie.

Plaza credited director Maggie Carey for handling the intimate moment with care, saying she was “sensitive to things that maybe a male director wouldn’t be.” Carey, in turn, praised Plaza for being “game for anything” and prioritizing comedy over vanity.

Plaza also revisited the experience during a chat with Conan O’Brien, recalling the moment she realized what she’d signed up for. “When I showed up, the camera was mounted on the ceiling. I was in my underwear and a Clinton T-shirt. And there were a bunch of old men around, smoking, in my head,” the actress said. “They weren’t really smoking. But, you know, the crew guys…”

“Then I went and touched myself,” she added. “I thought I was doing one thing, and when I showed up, it was a whole different thing, a full-body shot.”

It’s safe to say Plaza won’t be signing up for another scene like that anytime soon. But there’s one kind of reunion she would be down for: a Parks and Recreation reboot.

“I mean, I’ll do whatever Amy Poehler wants to do,” she told UNILAD. “If she’s in, I’m in. If she’s out, I’m out.”

Rashida Jones echoed the sentiment in a separate interview, saying: “Oh, anytime, any day. I mean, we’re all still friends, we text. I talk to Amy every day. If someone says, ‘Let’s do it,’ I think every single one of us would say yes.”

So while Aubrey Plaza may be done with ceiling-mounted cameras and Clinton-era lingerie, the Parks and Rec gang might not be done with Pawnee just yet.