Sex And The City‘s Evan Handler didn’t expect to start filming nude scenes after he turned 40

We are consistently inundated with stories of women playing mothers when they were far too young. Men in Hollywood—as we all well know by now—are generally treated with more grace, often earning the titles of “silver fox” or “daddy” as they age (or, in a recent atomic outlier, almost 70 years after their death). In the case of Sex And The City and And Just Like That…’s Evan Handler, a man can even become a bona fide sex symbol multiple decades after the start of his career. Still, this extended timeline didn’t mean the transition or that first nude scene was any easier or less jarring for the actor.

Handler recently opened up about playing Charlotte’s husband Harry Goldenblatt on Sex And The City, a show he didn’t appear in until 2002 when he was 41 years old. “It is weird that I started being called upon to do sex scenes, kiss women, and take off my clothes from 40 years old on. What is that about?” he said on a recent episode of the “Yeah, I F*cked That Up” podcast. “My inner dynamo was finally recognized.”

“Sex and the City was the first time I get a script—I’d already been doing some episodes—that [says], ‘Scene 1: Harry naked, Harry naked, Harry naked,’” he continued. “I had never done that before.”

In response to a question about whether Handler was excited or confused at the development, the actor answered that he was “terrified.” “I don’t even know the logistics of it,” Handler explained. “I don’t know how it’s done. I don’t know how it’s handled. I don’t know anything at that point about the little flesh-colored socks you tape on your crotch,” he said.

“Now things have changed,” he said, specifying that this was all before the advent of intimacy coordinators on set. “So, completely uncomfortable.”

Handler joins a growing chorus of actors lauding the new-ish profession of intimacy coordinator—which is now required on all HBO sets, including And Just Like That…—which also includes Reese Witherspoon, Game Of Thrones’ Gemma Whelan, Joe Alwyn, Lukas Gage, and more.