Michelle Williams Praises Use of Intimacy Coordinator on ‘Dying for Sex’ (Exclusive)

Michelle Williams is expressing her gratitude to the intimacy coordinator on the set of her new FX and Hulu show.

Speaking at the New York City premiere of Dying for Sex, held at the SVA Theatre on April 2, Williams, 44, told PEOPLE how the cast worked with a “wonderful intimacy coordinator [called] Claire” who “taught us a lot.”

“Not just making sure that every actor felt safe and like their boundaries were respected, but that they were also allowed to have private conversations,” Williams says. “I think that’s actually what’s so important about an intimacy coordinator, is that you’re allowed to have a private conversation ahead of time.”

The Greatest Showman star continues, “You know that your scene partner feels safe, feels understood, and whatever trauma or past they bring inherently as a human being who’s walked a long road to get here. They’re going to be safe and that’s going to be protected and taken care of, and they don’t have to explain that to a million people or ask for permission.”

Dying for Sex follows a woman diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer on a journey to reclaim her sexuality post-divorce while battling the illness. The show is based on the Wondery podcast of the same name, and is produced by three-time Emmy winner Nikki Boyer.

To decompress after filming some of the show’s more emotionally taxing scenes, Williams tells PEOPLE she turned to her favorite comfort food. “Pho became very important. There’s something about noodles and hot broth that was like the meal of choice. Yeah, everyone was pho obsessed,” Williams says.

And when it came to building chemistry among its stars and depicting the main character’s evolving sexuality and strong female friendship, Dying For Sex also had the unique challenge of tackling this subject matter in the same conversation as chronic illness.

“It was very ram jam entering the show,” Williams’ costar Jay Duplass tells PEOPLE. “We just kind of winged it and did it, we made it up as we went, but I mean, look, Michelle Williams is one of our great living actors. I think we all know that. Me being in the same room with her, being able to make art with her is incredible, and what’s so amazing and impressionable about her is that she works with a beginner’s mind.”

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“She is just like, ‘how do we figure this out? How do we do this truthfully? How do we connect in a real way?’ And she set the tone for the whole show. It felt like we were really held doing very challenging material,” Duplass, 52, continues.

Dying for Sex premieres on Hulu on Friday, April 4.