Jane the Virgin
Gina Rodriguez directed Chapter Seventy-Four of “Jane the Virgin” Season 4, and she was very careful about how the intimate scene between Jane and Rafael played out. The CW

Jane Gloriana Villanueva (Gina Rodriguez) is constantly evolving in The CW show, “Jane the Virgin,” and this Season 4 is no exception.

She has rekindled her past feelings for her baby daddy, Rafael Solano (Justin Baldoni), and they even decided to take things to the next step by having sex.

They took the plunge in “Chapter Seventy-Four,” which is directed by Rodriguez herself. The actress-slash-director told TV Guide that her approach to the scene was well though of, since she wanted to create a safe and beautiful environment with her co-star, Baldoni.

Despite having an amazing body, Baldoni struggles with body dysmorphia and the pressure to always be to in shape. Rodriguez weighed in on this, saying: “I think that the male gaze on the female body is very different [than] when you have a female gaze on this kind of scene, because I knew what was going to make me feel comfortable. I knew how it was going to make me not only comfortable, but make me feel beautiful, make me feel confident, make me feel sexy.”

“I was able to give that to my male co-star when, stereotypically, people wouldn’t think that men go through this experience. They don’t feel confident in front of the lens all the time. They don’t feel manly or buff or ripped. I was able to show Justin just how handsome and masculine he was and could be and really wanted to feel,” she added.

Actresses don’t often feel safe under the guidance of male directors, so Rodriguez wanted to pull out all the stops to offer that protection for Baldoni. “So I was able to protect my co-star in a way that women don’t often get the opportunity to be protected should there be a male director,” she said.

Rodriguez did a pretty amazing job for a first-time director, but she was admittedly overwhelmed by all the work she took on, according to Variety. It was a good thing that her boyfriend, Joe LoCicero, was extremely supportive of her new gig. When the time came for Rodriguez to direct, she began to feel overwhelmed and asked him, “This is a lot of work, why did I take this on again?”

And he gave her the perfect answer: “Because you can, and all of the work you’re doing now is going to allow it so that when you’re on set, there will be less work.”

“Jane the Virgin” Season 4 airs Fridays on The CW at 9 p.m. EST.

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