Credit: Michael N. Todaro/FilmMagic.

Before Lindsay Lohan went topless, the crew of her new movie, "The Canyons," dropped their pants.

"They were down to their underwear," a source told ABCNews.com. "It's a common thing for a crew to do to make actors feel less self-conscious."

The practice has precedent. "Love and Other Drugs" director Edward Zwick got naked when his stars, Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway, balked about the 2010 film's many nude scenes. "I said, 'What do you want me to do?'" Zwick told New York Magazine. "And they said, 'You take your clothes off.' And I said, 'Fine!'" Zwick said the three of them even posed for a naked photo after.

Of Lohan's topless turn, her publicist Steve Honig said, "The cast and crew have been very understanding about the sensitivities around filming certain scenes."

Lohan plays an ex-model in "The Canyons," the drama she stars in with adult film actor James Deen. She's expected to finish shooting this week.

The 26-year-old actress has posed topless before, memorably as Marilyn Monroe for New York Magazine and Playboy.

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