It seems that Andrea Riseborough had an virtually psychic reference to Brandon Cronenberg when studying the screenplay, or at the least caught on to the best way he could have hinted on the concept within the up to date script. Cronenberg recalled the second the actress advised that her character ought to, certainly, don a penis for the scene:

“I sat down with Andrea for one of many first conversations we had as soon as she had already signed on to the movie, and one of many first issues she mentioned after we have been speaking in regards to the intercourse scene, was, ‘Look, I do not wish to freak you out right here. However I actually assume that Vos ought to have a penis.’ I simply thought, ‘That is wonderful. You are studying my thoughts. You are clearly the proper individual for this.’ And I used to be simply thrilled to return to my producers and say, ‘She completely should have a penis. That is her concept.'”

Riseborough correctly caught on to the truth that Cronenberg’s intention for the scene wasn’t to shock for the sake of exploitation. There is a deeper theme right here in regards to the mixing of intercourse and gender since each characters are a part of the identical physique. The second makes the viewers query the place the id of each characters begins and ends, or in the event that they’re one and the identical. Of their combat for management, maybe they’re turning into one another and changing into the identical being. Simply because there is a penis doesn’t suggest it is, as Cronenberg succinctly places it, “penis-focused.”