Melissa Rauch, known as The Big Bang Theory’s high-pitched sweetheart Bernadette, seems an unlikely contender for an elaborate gymnastics sex scene with Sebastian Stan.
But like her character in The Bronze — Hope, an Olympic gymnast turned hometown has-been who now accessorizes her uniform with junk food and profanity — Rauch isn’t mindful of limits. In fact, the New Jersey native co-wrote the “a ballet o’ sex” with her husband, Winston Rauch, “who stood by the monitor in total support: ‘It’s going great! Let’s do another take!’” she tells The Hollywood Reporter.
The scene made headlines after the R-rated comedy — also starring Thomas Middleditch, Cecily Strong, Gary Cole and Haley Lu Richardson — premiered at Sundance last year, as did the vulgar language of Rauch’s protagonist. “It was important that we didn’t water her down.
I know she’s hard to take and she’s essentially unlikable at that moment, because she doesn’t like herself,” she explains. “But if a character like this can figure it out, then there’s hope for all of us — no pun intended.”
Before the March 18 release of the Sony Pictures Classics film — following the terminated Relativity acquisition, and in a slightly different cut than its Sundance debut — Rauch spoke with THR about exploring the effects of fame, rapping with PTAF and tackling the double standard around “raunchy” female-led fare.