Jacob Tierney reveals Connor Storrie & Hudson Williams nearly shot full-frontal scenes on Heated Rivalry

The online reactions are hot and heavy to Heated Rivalry right now!

It's been revealed that Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie were so committed to their craft in filming the steamy sex scenes that they offered to show everything, but creator Jacob Tierney decided against full-frontal nudity in the hit show.

Tierney joined actor Andrew Rannells for a conversation at the Brooklyn Paramount on Sunday. The event was held to promote his new book, I'll Believe in Anything: The Making of Heated Rivalry Season 1 (The Annotated Scripts), which is out today.

As Out reported in January, Williams said he used a “cock sock” for scenes between Shane Hollander and his lover, Ilya Rozanov, played by Storrie. He described it as a “ballet slipper meets a Crown Royal bag. You kind of go balls in first,” he told podcaster Evan Ross Katz.

“You have to dip in, get the balls first, if you even need to try one on. Get the balls really pulled in there and then shove the schwanz down,” Williams explained, using a German slang for penis.

On Sunday in Brooklyn, Rannells asked Tierney to discuss the role of intimacy coordinator Chala Hunter on set, now a standard practice in any production involving actors called upon to simulate sex acts in a scene.

"So, that all happens long before we're on set," said the creator, writer, director, and executive producer of the hit HBO Max and Crave series. "I did try to write these scenes as specifically as I could, so there would be no mystery as to what's happening because I've been an actor for a long time, I'm sure we have a similar experience. Someone's like, 'Go at it!' It's a nightmare."

Rannells and Tierney shared that there were no intimacy coordinators back when they started in the industry.

"This is a nightmare," Tierney continued. "I don't want to improv my way through this. I would like to know what's happening, so what we talked about was choreographing these things like dances, so that you know what the movements you're doing because it's so technical, too. It's like, 'You've got to lift your leg here to hide this part of your body. You have to do this,' to hide his part."

Tierney then revealed his actors were more than ready to show what they've got, and not hide anything.

"It's about what I wanted to show," he told Rannells, to laughter from the audience. "It's not a joke," he told the crowd. "I was like, 'I'm not showing your dicks,'" recalled Tierney.

"We're hiding these intimacy garments, right? We have to do a lot of negotiation around that, around their bodies in that way," he added. "The boys were both very game. They wanted, they understood from the beginning. I think it was also one of the first conversations I had with these actors, when I knew that they were in the running for these roles, I would have a Zoom with them."

Tierney said he sent the actors early drafts of the scripts so they knew what they were in for, telling them, "'You need to read this. You need to tell me you're comfortable with this because like I will do everything possible to make you feel safe and comfortable. It will be as respectful an environment as as I can possibly create. But if you don't want to do this, I can't find out on set.'"

He said both Williams and Storrie understood that, as did actor Robbie G.K., who plays Christopher "Kip" Grady.

"To me the idea of doing it is like a dance, hopefully you learn the steps so that you can kind of forget them and then connect with the other dancer. And that's the idea. It's like, we learn these steps so that hopefully you guys can feel the freedom to connect with each other. Because the thing we talk about before the sex scenes, even now during season two, it's not so much the movements. It's like, 'Where are you at? What are you getting out of this? You're sad. You're trying to make him feel better.' It is still storytelling. So, this is much more important to me than making sure one thing happens."

When the BuzzingPop account shared this part of their conversation on X, the comments were swiftly poppin.

"Why did Jacob reveal this it's okay not to tell everything damn what could have been," wrote SolarFlame99. But Mitch was fine with Tierney's decision: "Respect. Gay characters shouldn’t always be subjected to full nudity," he wrote.

To Mr. Garrison, Tierney's call was a mistake. "Well please don’t make the same mistake in the next season. We don’t need close ups, but some nice peekaboo shots and glimpses would be just great. Thank you in advance."

"Oh what we could've had," added FanGirl's Diaries, with a winking emoji. Aaron added, "for me it’s more important to see hudson’s hole."

Virtual Lady complained: "the one time two men volunteered and someone said no." And yufangrande capped off the conversation with a meme, in a popular post they captioned: "now why would they turn down the best part."

YouTuber bwaySHO captured Rannell's entire conversation with Tierney in a video you can watch below.