Olivia Colman placed a wet sponge between her legs as a barrier for any intimate sex scenes with Emma Stone in 'The Favourite'.

Olivia Colman

Olivia Colman

The 44-year-old actress stars alongside Emma, 30, in the historical period-drama movie - which tells the story of the court favourites during the reign of Queen Anne - and Olivia has revealed the unusual way in which she approached her sex scenes in the film.

Appearing on 'The Graham Norton Show', she recalled: "Emma Stone was worried about me though because she had to touch me intimately under the sheets.

"So, I put a big wet sponge there as a barrier. She was going up my leg and her face was a picture when she reached it!"

The acclaimed actress has also admitted to being shocked by the level of fame she's managed to achieve.

Olivia has found stardom relatively late in her career, and she said the interest surrounding her can be a bit "embarrassing".

She explained: "I love my job very much. I love going to work, which I know is very lucky, but the other stuff is a bit embarrassing."

Meanwhile, Emma recently admitted she felt "gloomy" about turning 30.

The 'La La Land' star said: "I got gloomy for about a week, but realised the most interesting part about becoming an adult is most things become bittersweet. I'm still finding my voice.

"It's OK if not everybody likes you, and that doesn't make it more appealing to convince them of why you are likeable.

"So that was a major lesson, not falling over myself to win over the unwinnable.

"Nobody knows what they're doing! We're all just a bunch of people trying to figure out how to get through the day."