It was important to me that Gregg Araki know, right from the start, that he’s someone I’ve wanted to talk with for a long time. Honestly, I never thought there’d be occasion to do it. Araki’s “Teenage Apocalypse” movies, trailblazing dark comedies in the realm of queer cinema, were so instrumental to my love of film. My personal favorite, 1995’s Nowhere, which I still watch often today. Araki has evolved a lot over the years, but he’s still pushing the boundaries and talking about sex in ways that Hollywood isn’t ready for. And Araki’s done it again with I Want Your Sex, which manages to do all of that in what is the most mainstream effort of his career.
In I Want Your Sex, Cooper Hoffman as Eliot, a naive guy with a controlling girlfriend (played by Charli XCX), who gets the dream of a lifetime when the sexy and provocative artist Erika Tracy, played by Olivia Wilde, asks him to be her sex slave. The film explores some of the fears Gen Z males have surrounding sex, while also offering a twist on the workplace power dynamic. Araki wanted to explore that dynamic, seen so often in thrillers in the ’80s and ’90s, but felt compelled to do it a different way following the Me Too revelations.
It was a real treat for me to spend a few minutes talking with Gregg Araki about I Want Your Sex. We ran into some technical difficulties that caused some snags in the conversation, so I thank him for sticking with me throughout. We talked about his current feelings for queer cinema, this being his most mainstream film since Splendor, and what made Hoffman and Wilde such perfect leads.
I Want Your Sex is in theaters now. Check out my review here and the interview below!
