‘Dying for Sex’: Michelle Williams on How Molly’s Delirium Dream Sequence Was Filmed

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Dying for Sex Season 1.]

Dying for Sex has its fair share of wild scenes, but one particular sequence in the show’s finale episode stands out for its technical execution as Michelle Williams‘ Molly experiences delirium as death nears. For those who haven’t tuned into the FX series streaming exclusively on Hulu, Dying for Sex follows the story of Molly, a young woman who is diagnosed with terminal cancer and decides to experiment in search of sexual satisfaction before she meets her end.

When Molly enters hospice in her preparation to die amid her ongoing cancer battle, she is informed by her hospice nurse (played by Paula Pell) that there are different stages to dying, one of which is delirium. This manifests in a fantastical dream sequence where items begin floating off the walls to circle around Molly, starting with a clock and the landline phone.

Next, Molly turns her head to find a painting she’d discussed with her bestie Nikki (Jenny Slate) has suddenly grown large, with Nikki being superimposed into the fisherman scene unfolding. Other fantastical moments in the sequence include the “perfect” penis fly around Molly on wings, an appearance from her former dog-costumed sexual fling, and much more.

FX / Hulu

But how did the complex scene come together? “They did such a beautiful job making it really come alive for us,” Williams tells TV Insider. “I know that they had to paint out the puppeteers in post-production… but they really built this psychotic merry-go-round for me to watch and experience,” Williams shares.

When it came to filming the scene, Williams adds that for “a lot of it… I was riding on the camera, or my bed was spinning or they were spinning [it], so it gave the full effect.” Filming took hours, Williams confirms, adding, “a few hours of feeling a little drunk,” with all that spinning.

Meanwhile, executive producer Kim Rosentock says, “Putting that together took so much. It really was like we were putting on a little play within the show. We had puppeteers involved, we had so many new elements involved there, we had composers that we hired just for that sequence… we had David Rasche singing a song… we had Esco [Jouley] learning to juggle butt plugs. It was truly a monster and a joy to put together.”

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Rosenstock adds, “We were like, ‘I hope this works,’ and then when we were in editing, we were like, ‘Oh my gosh, it totally works!” She credits the episode’s director, Shannon Murphy, saying that it’s “a testament to our amazing director… who had a lot of that vision and helped us execute it in such a beautiful way.”

Don’t miss it for yourself, check out Dying for Sex on Hulu, and let us know what you thought of Molly’s delirium dream in the comments section.

FX’s Dying for Sex, streaming now, Hulu