“I Want Your Sex” writer and director Gregg Araki has seen the reports of Gen Z having less sex, and he has some notes.
“Like, why don’t you have sex? What’s going on?” Araki told Variety at the opening night of OutfestNEXT on Thursday at the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Renberg Theatre. “Sex is a huge part of my life. My journey as a person, as an artist — it’s all tied to sex, sexual experiences, relationships. All my movies are about that. I can’t comprehend life without it.”
After a decade of working in TV, Araki returns to filmmaking with the Olivia Wilde and Cooper Hoffman-led comedy “I Want Your Sex,” which he co-wrote with his “Now Apocalypse” collaborator Karley Sciortino. It follows ambitious artist Erika Tracy (Wilde) as she starts a kinky, BDSM relationship with her young assistant, Elliot (Hoffman), leading to Elliot’s sexual awakening — with near-death consequences. Charli xcx, Mason Gooding, Chase Sui Wonders and Daveed Diggs round out the cast.
Lacey Terrell
As OutfestNEXT looks to rebuild after a two-year hiatus due to financial and management issues, Araki’s film being chosen as the opening night screening is significant; the L.A. native received Outfest‘s achievement award back in 2005, a year after his film “Mysterious Skin” released.
“I’m so excited to be here at the rebirth of Outfest. My movies have always been by, for and about queer people. So, it’s my people,” Araki said. “Also, I’ve lived here almost all my life. It’s L.A., it’s queer. It’s coming home!”
Wilde’s provocative, sex-positive character represents Araki’s “mouthpiece” in the film: “I’m in my 60s now. You’re gonna turn around and you’re going to be 40, 50 like that. Will you regret not taking a chance, venturing out of your house, risking getting hurt, getting confused, getting your heart broken? Go out on a bad date, have that bad relationship, have that bad girlfriend. Be in love with the wrong person. That’s fucking life! That’s growing up! That’s how you learn about yourself.”
Hoffman’s 23-year-old character, meanwhile, represents the Gen Z point of view coming out of the pandemic.
“They haven’t had technology all their lives, they’re not used to talking to people! Social interaction makes them uncomfortable,” Araki said. “And also, they’re being filmed and videotaped constantly. If I thought somebody was going to film me going into that gay bar back when I was a teenager, would I have done it? Probably not. Those things need to happen in private.”
“I Want Your Sex” marks the first time Araki used an intimacy coordinator on one of his films, a practice that has become increasingly common over the past decade (Araki’s last feature was 2014’s “White Bird in a Blizzard”).
“I leave it up to the actors because it’s really what makes them most comfortable,” Araki said. “Because there are actors who don’t want an intimacy coordinator. I’ve heard horror stories of people who are bad intimacy coordinators and make it more awkward and uncomfortable. Personally, as a director, I’m very comfortable with sex scenes, I’ve been doing them all my life. So, I know exactly how to do them and for actors, that gives them a sense of comfort and a sense of security.”
“I’m always there for them because I feel like actors are so vulnerable, what they do just by nature,” he continued. “That’s my job as a director to make sure the set is a very safe space for them to do their work.”
Araki explained that Wilde came onto set with “much more” experience doing nude scenes. Cooper, meanwhile, was “terrified.”
“He’s never done a nude scene, never done a sex scene, but Cooper was very like, ‘This scares the shit out of me. But that’s why I want to do it!’” Araki recalled. “That’s why Cooper’s a fucking movie star.”
“I Want Your Sex” had the classic Sundance experience earlier this year, with multiple distributors competing for the buzzy title in a bidding war before Magnolia Pictures secured the U.S. rights. But this type of story is not as common as it once was.
As an independent filmmaker who helped birth the New Queer Cinema movement with his ’90s Teen Apocalypse Trilogy, comprised of “Totally F**ked Up,” “The Doom Generation” and “Nowhere,” Araki has gotten a unique front row seat to the many changes in independent film.
“It’s a really exciting time because the rules are kind of thrown out the window a little bit. Cinema right now is really relying on younger audiences, Gen Z audiences, the Letterboxd generation. There’s a level of: They don’t want to see the same old fucking bullshit. A lot of the old Hollywood formulas are not working anymore, which I think is great,” Araki said. “But it is [still] hard to get a movie made, hard to get a movie distributed. So, I’m just grateful that we got this made and that it’s going to be out in theaters!”
“I Want Your Sex” releases in theaters July 31.
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