Amanda Peet is not sweating it when it comes to sex scenes at 53.
In fact, she’s so used to it after three decades in Hollywood that she laughs when she forgets she even has one. In the Apple TV+ dark comedy Your Friends & Neighbors, Peet plays Mel Cooper, a therapist who dumps her husband after an affair with his NBA-star best friend. Yes, it’s juicy, and yes, Peet goes full in, from intense therapy sessions to full-on steamy scenes with Jon Hamm and Mark Tallman.
But Peet? Totally cool with it. On the red carpet at the Emmy FYC event in LA on May 17, she told PEOPLE she’s practically on autopilot. “Dude, I’ve been doing this for so long, I’m just like, ‘Show me where to be. Show me who to kiss. Who do I have to make out with today’?” she said. That’s how chill she is. And when she sees the intimacy coordinator, Lizzy Talbot, she panics for a second thinking it’s her turn again. “Wait, I have a sex scene?” she’ll ask, only to be reassured, “No, dear. It’s somebody else.” That’s how frequent the steam gets in Your Friends & Neighbors.
Her on-screen chemistry with Jon Hamm, who plays her ex-husband Coop, is one of the show’s highlights. “It’s fun to play exes who can’t quite let it go,” Peet said. She praised showrunner Jonathan Tropper for writing a character like Mel, who’s layered, messy, and far from cliché. “I just feel like Tropper wrote a really great character,” she added. She also had kind words for Hamm, calling him “a gentleman” and “a really good leader on the set.” And apparently, he’s not a snob, which Peet says she seriously appreciates.
Peet’s career may be all glitz now, but it had its awkward beginnings. She shared a hilarious story about getting fired from a waitressing job-one she wasn’t even qualified for. “I had never waitressed, so I put that I had and then made up a restaurant in San Francisco, even though I was from New York,” she admitted. As if that wasn’t risky enough, she gave her boyfriend’s number as the fake reference. What got her fired? A pizza oven, a bread basket, and one very confused customer. “A lovely couple asked me to warm the bread. I put the whole basket in the pizza oven. I didn’t start a fire, but the dude was like, “You’re fired, you dumb actress type’.” Classic.
What’s even better is how much Peet loves Mel’s character because she breaks all the tired stereotypes. “She’s a middle-aged divorcée who isn’t depressed and bitter and sitting around on her couch drinking Chardonnay and hoping to find a way to start online dating,” she explained. Instead, Mel is out there-sleeping with a gorgeous former NBA player and already moved on while her ex, Coop, is the one left sulking.
And while Mel’s suburban life may be complicated, Peet is loving how the show explores it in such a smart, raw way. “I think [Tropper] just had a really interesting way of illustrating her particular brand of suburban ennui,” she said.
With the season finale of Your Friends & Neighbors airing May 30 and season two already shooting, it’s clear Peet is having the time of her life. Whether it’s sex scenes, comedic chaos, or real-deal character work, she’s showing that at 53, she’s not just keeping up-she’s owning it.
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