Eva Mendes not a fan of sex scenes

Eva Mendes fights to avoid sex scenes in her films, because she's convinced they rarely add to the story.

The actress, who famously pleasured herself on a sofa for a scene opposite Joaquin Phoenix in We Own The Night, insists she's not a fan of getting intimate on the big screen.

Mendes, who grew up dreaming of becoming a nun, tells WENN, "Love scenes are always awkward. They're awful. I've managed to really skip through them. When I read that my character has a love scene I carefully address it with the director: 'Can we please cut this out? It's gratuitous and there's no need for it,' and thankfully that has happened.

"I try to avoid them whenever I can. I have done a couple of things that have been appropriate for the films I've been in but I've never done a simulated sex scene because I feel like they're rarely appropriate."

Mendes has, however, stripped down for various movie roles and appears topless in one post-coital scene for her upcoming film The Place Beyond The Pines - with co-star and real-life boyfriend Ryan Gosling cupping her breast to preserve her modesty.