Olivia Munn has shared details about the physical and emotional adjustments she made while filming intimate scenes for Your Friends and Neighbors, the Apple TV+ series in which she stars opposite Jon Hamm.
Munn appears as Samantha Levitt, a woman involved in a clandestine relationship with Hamm’s character, Andrew “Coop” Cooper. Speaking to the Los Angeles Times, she said that the filming process involved confronting insecurities tied to her recent health experiences. Munn underwent multiple surgeries following a bilateral breast cancer diagnosis, which she revealed publicly in early 2024.
“I was really nervous about doing any sex scenes because I have a lot of scars,” Munn said. “Scars that can be seen in clothing and scars that you wouldn’t know unless I was completely nude.”
In April 2023, Munn was diagnosed with cancer through genetic testing. She later had a double mastectomy, followed by a partial hysterectomy and oophorectomy. After those procedures, she entered remission. Reflecting on the filming experience, she said that performing in those scenes gradually helped her regain confidence. “I did feel insecure, but each time I did it, I felt better. I’m so grateful for my body because it got me through this.”
The show’s storyline centers on Hamm’s character, a disgraced hedge fund manager who begins robbing homes in a wealthy neighborhood. Behind closed doors, the residents of Westmont Village are hiding their own secrets, and Coop’s affair with Samantha becomes one of the more revealing storylines in the early episodes.
In addition to its criminal plotlines, Your Friends and Neighbors leans heavily on the complicated emotional exchanges between characters. For Samantha, the relationship with Coop is shaped by a desire for emotional connection that remains unmet. “She wants something so much more from him than he’s willing to give and their only connection is through sex,” Munn said. “I really wanted that to be portrayed. I wanted the sex scenes to feel like sex scenes — I wanted them to feel visceral and intense and not hold back at all.”
Those scenes, spread throughout the pilot and second episode, depict moments of physical closeness quickly followed by emotional distance. The affair is established as ongoing, but undefined, with neither character ready to fully articulate what the relationship means.
In one early scene, Samantha bites Coop hard enough to leave a mark. Munn described the filming of that moment during the show’s New York City premiere. “I remember my character has to bite him, and I was nervous, and he just kept saying, ‘It’s OK, you can bite really hard.’ And then I did. And he’s a very tough guy.”
The actress also spoke about the process of preparing those scenes with Hamm, series creator Jonathan Tropper, and intimacy coordinator Lizzy Talbot. “There was a lot of dialogue about it with myself and Jon and Jonathan Tropper and the intimacy coordinator,” Munn said. “Because we really wanted it to be — it has to be really believable, because my character is wanting something more from Jon’s character, but the only thing she’s getting from him at this point is this sexual relationship.”
She described the technical nature of filming those moments, comparing the preparation to choreography. “People talk about this a lot, but it’s not like real life. There’s a lot of choreography that goes on. Intimacy coordinators are really there — like stunt coordinators or fight coordinators are — to help make the scene look as believable and realistic and help everybody achieve what we want to achieve. And so there’s a lot of discussion.”
The first two episodes of the show reveal Samantha’s emotional expectations more clearly than Coop’s. When he invites her over, she arrives after getting a babysitter, putting on lingerie, and preparing for what she believes will be a meaningful evening. After their encounter, his distant tone prompts her to leave abruptly. She asks him directly if he thinks they could ever be anything other than what they are. His lack of response ends the night.
The relationship resumes in episode two, when Samantha attempts to regain a sense of confidence after seeing her ex-husband with a younger woman. She contacts Coop and initiates another meeting, beginning in the back of a borrowed SUV and continuing in her bedroom. This time, Coop chooses to stay the night. As they talk over wine, he reaches for her leg, signaling his intention to remain. Her reaction is part surprise, part relief, delivered with dry humor before she initiates another round of physical intimacy.
Munn’s performance has drawn attention not just for the onscreen content, but for the context surrounding her participation. Few public figures have spoken as openly about body image after medical treatment while continuing to take on physically vulnerable roles.
In addition to her role in Your Friends and Neighbors, Munn recently appeared on The Daily Show in a one-off segment, her first return to the series since her brief tenure as a correspondent from 2010 to 2011. Appearing alongside current host Desi Lydic, Munn joked about her rare return. “You know how Jon [Stewart] comes in one day a week? Yeah, I have the same deal. I just come in once every 14 years. My dad’s a cicada.”
The series continues weekly on Apple TV+, with Munn and Hamm’s characters positioned as central figures in both the emotional and interpersonal tension that defines the early episodes.
