Daniel Craig has said sex scenes run the risk of simply being an excuse to show actors in the nude if they do not add anything to a film's plot.
The James Bond star, who made the comments in an interview, has taken part in plenty of on-screen seduction and his recent film Queer features a same-sex love scene.
However, Craig, who was voted the world's sexiest man in 2006, said intimate scenes could easily end up being "gratuitous".
Speaking to Variety, the 56-year-old said: "The sex is the least interesting thing in the scene. You have to play the truth of it the best you can.
"The only thing that's going on is in the heads of these people; if you can't see that, then the scene is just gratuitous.
"What are they doing there? What's affecting them? All of these things. You owe it to a sex scene to have all those things in.
"Otherwise, it's an excuse to get people naked."
Craig, who has stripped off in several films during his career, also said he had felt under pressure after he was first hired to play James Bond.
He said: "In my 30s, I abused my body more than I probably should have done. All of a sudden, I get this part [in Casino Royale], and I'm like, oh, I've really got to get fit for this."
The actor ultimately got into shape, and made headlines for a scene in the film in which he emerges from the sea wearing only his swimming shorts.
Craig added: "And then another Bond movie comes up, and you go, oh, I've got to get fit again. That cycle, I had to break. I just started keeping fit regularly, so I didn't stop for long periods of time."
Discussing Luca Guadagnino, the director of Queer, he added: "There's an atmosphere he creates on a set, which is one of brilliant chaos, but also absolute focus. It's Italian. It's Sicilian. Which, for a tight-arsed Englishman, is very liberating.
"It doesn't mean that he's not absolutely laser-focused on everything. And the character just felt so multifaceted, multilayered.
"He's got a gun on his hip and walks around [like] a macho guy, but he's Burroughs. I threw the kitchen sink at it."