Riley Keough: 'The Girlfriend Experience sex scenes weren't challenging - they were liberating'

The Steven Soderbergh film adaptation is an unflinching depiction of a high-end sex worker

(© 2016 Starz Entertainment, LLC)

Riley Keough is the eldest grandchild of Elvis Presley who starred as one of the 'wives' in George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road - none of which are reasons why we sat down to speak with the 27-year-old actor.

That was to discuss her scintillating role in TV series The Girlfriend Experience which is now airing on Amazon Prime.

The series, based on Steven Soderbergh's experimental 2009 film of the same name, follows Christine Reade, an ambitious law student intern who becomes seduced by the high-end escort industry. Created by Lodge Kerrigan and Amy Seimetz, it's as unflinching a portrayal of the subject you could expect to see.

Upon its debut on US network Starz in April, the performance scored Keough both rave reviews and recognition (it's a fair bet to assume the role will see her grace stages at future award ceremonies). We spoke with the actor to discuss her views on Christine, the escort industry and her "liberating" sex scenes.

The Girlfriend Experience really is an introduction to a subject many viewers probably have no idea about.

Yeah, I didn’t know it existed either.

Are high-end escorts more common than people think?

Oh yeah. It's like really common; if you start looking into it, you’ll realise how common it is.

Did that shock you?

Totally. To me, I hear prostitution and I'm thinking of a girl on the street with a pimp in a terrible situation getting abused. I wasn't really aware of the higher paid ones that enjoy their job. I didn’t really know that was a thing.

Did you feel any pressure in bringing Christine to screen considering she's a representative of that industry?

I don’t think so. I talked to enough girls to get an understanding. The girls we were interested in were girls who liked their jobs so it was a different kind of a girl. That's the story we were telling - the girl who enjoys it because that’s an interesting quality in a woman.

Was it important for you that Christine evaded the viewer's judgement?

Absolutely. That was a conversation we had very early on with Stephen [Soderbergh], Amy and Lodge. We don’t want to persuade the audience to feel a certain way about anything - we just want to present them with this content and let them feel how they feel which I think was an interesting thing to do.

Do you think the series being a collaborative effort by a male-female creative team added anything in particular?

I think it added credibility to everything because it was equal. I like everything to be equal. So it wasn’t a feminist project and it wasn’t a sexualised-woman-by-a-male project. As far as logistics go, that was a benefit.

Christine is a blunt, almost sociopathic character - she has a lot going on internally and yet she gets to present herself sexually. As an actor, did you come across any obstacles playing a character who was challenging norms in such an extreme way?

You know what’s funny is that it wasn’t challenging - it was actually liberating. She was a woman who was allowed to have flaws and be a human being. I love playing that character who's not pigeonholed in the four options you have as a woman to play so to play someone who has no need to appease people socially and just kind of exist as herself - and be sure of herself and her morals - was actually a very liberating experience.

Going into to a series such as The Girlfriend Experience, I'm sure it was obvious you'd be expected to shoot a large number of sex scenes. Did you find that harder or easier than you expected when you got on set?

I guess I found it [long pause] easier, probably. I was worried that I wasn’t in the right... I always get worried that I’m not fully, I guess one could say 'in character' but I hate using that term - in their own headspace, I guess. In terms of understanding her, I was worried I wasn’t there mentally but then I got there and realised I was, so that was exciting.

That must have been a relief.

Yeah, it's kind of my biggest fear thinking I know somebody I'm going to be and then I don’t. It's probably only happened to me once or twice but that was enough for me to definitely not do a role unless I 100% can be that person. There’s always that little doubt in your mind: am I being a fraud? The cool thing about TV is the longer you’re able to exist as a character, the less you feel that way so that was really cool for me being able to just be this person for a long period of time. It was really fun.

Were there many changes to the choreography of the sex scenes during filming?

Everything stayed the same. There were probably alterations but for the most part, it was pretty accurate to the script.

Did you ever feel uncomfortable with any aspect of the sex scenes?

No, with this project - and kind of with most projects - I'm kind of like: 'If I'm in it, I'm in it' and that’s it. If there’s something I really disagree with, then I'll say something. But when you’re playing an escort - a prostitute - you kind of have to be very open to how weird it can get. So I came prepared for that.

What do you personally think draws people to become escorts?

I think there's all kinds of reasons: the thrill, the control, the sex, money - all of these American dreams [laughs]

Do you think Christine has set a precedent for future roles you undertake?

It's hard when you play something that people are like, "Wow that’s really cool - you just did something really epic," because you’re not always going to be playing epic characters in a role. Also, she’s just a very strong female character and at the moment I'm really interested in that. But sometimes I've wanted to play passive roles or whatever I'm feeling at the moment so I don’t know... If I can stay true to how I'm feeling as opposed to how other people are feeling, I guess that’s the best I can do.

All 13 episodes of The Girlfriend Experience's first season is available to watch on Amazon Prime now