'Don't Look Now' sex scene was not real, says Donald Sutherland

Veteran actor Donald Sutherland has emphatically denied a claim of a new book that he and actress Julie Christie actually had sex during a graphic love scene in the 1973 film Don't Look Now.

In the book called Famous Players: A Tale Of Movies, The Mob, (And Sex), former Variety editor Peter Bart claimed he was on the film's set and saw the two stars engaging in real sex.

However, the 75-year-old Canadian actor totally rejected Bart's claim, calling it "mendacious".

"Not true. None of it. Not the sex. Not him witnessing it," the Daily Mail quoted him as saying in an email sent to the New York Daily News.

"From beginning to end there were four people in that room. No one else. Wires under the locked door led out side and this was twenty years before video monitors," he added.

The four people he was referring to were himself and Christie, director Nicolas Roeg and cinematographer Anthony Richmond.

Bart's graphic account reveals how he visited the Venice set as a young Paramount Pictures executive on what he calls that "auspicious day".

As he arrived, the director Nicolas Roeg reportedly told him: "Good day to come by", Bart said.

At first he claims his mind drifted off for a few moments as he sat watching the filming but then he suddenly focused on the actors, who were both completely naked.

"It was clear to me they were no longer simply acting: they were ****ing on camera,' wrote Bart, according to Hollywood Reporter which obtained an advance copy of his book.

Bart said he then whispered to Roeg: "Nic, don't they expect you to say "cut"?", to which Roeg replied: "I just want to be sure I have the coverage."