Harry Styl Talks ‘My Policeman’ Gay Sex Scen – IndieWire

Contents:

• MY POLICEMAN: IS GAY SEX STILL TABOO ON SCREEN?
• HARRY STYL’ GAY SEX SCEN ‘MY POLICEMAN’ ARE ‘VERY SCULPTURAL,’ DIRECTOR SAYS
• 'MY POLICEMAN' HAS HARRY STYL AS CLOSETED GAY COP CGHT UP IN 1950S LOVE TRIANGLE
• HARRY STYL BRAVELY SAYS GAY ROMANCE MY POLICEMAN NOT ABOUT "GUYS BEG GAY"
• HARRY STYL PLAYS A CLOSETED GAY MAN STEAMY ‘MY POLICEMAN’ TRAILER
• REVIEW: 'MY POLICEMAN' TURNS A GRIPPG REAL-LIFE GAY LOVE STORY INTO A DREARY FILM
• ‘MY POLICEMAN’ REVIEW: HARRY STYL AND EMMA CORR BRG MIMAL HEAT TO TEPID GAY MELODRAMA
• HARRY STYL' LEADG MAN TURN AS A GAY POLICEMAN IS ALREADY GETTG RAVE REVIEWS

MY POLICEMAN: IS GAY SEX STILL TABOO ON SCREEN?

(Image cred: Amazon Prime/Alamy)From the timate scen Harry Styl' new drama to Billy Eichner's Bros, is mastream cema fally beg ls y about gay sexualy on screen, asks Louis starts wh a soft touch of the neck, when mm curator Patrick Hazlewood (David Dawson) and policeman Tom Burgs (Harry Styl) are stg together on a sofa, a Brighton apartment, after drkg three large whiskeys. The sex scen Michael Grandage's My Policeman – a gay romance film about two men the 1950s, when male homosexual sex was still a crimal offence – actually ma headl months before the film's release select US and UK cemas last Friday. An terview wh Styl Rollg Stone promotg the film, which he bemoaned a lack of "tenrns" gay sex scen, sparked ntroversy.

"So much of gay sex film is two guys gog at , " Styl said, sayg he and director Michael Grandage wanted to show stead that gay sex n be "lovg and sensive. Styl was acced of feedg to the homophobic ia that homosexualy is acceptable as long as is not too your "-your-face".

HARRY STYL’ GAY SEX SCEN ‘MY POLICEMAN’ ARE ‘VERY SCULPTURAL,’ DIRECTOR SAYS

– Pop's gay sexual revolutn. Ined, sex is a key vehicle for the film's character velopment, not only illtratg both the phoric early stag and subsequent simmerg tensns Tom and Patrick's relatnship, but also reflectg the awkwardns Tom's ltls marriage to Marn (Emma Corr) pictg a passnate gay love affair 1950s Bra, My Policeman is notable for the relative length and ankns of s sex scen (Cred: Amazon Prime/Alamy)When me to the sex scen between Patrick and Tom, Grandage suggted the actors watch the 1959 romance Hiroshima, Mon Amour, by French film director Ala Rnais, preparatn. "In My Policeman, we're alg wh a perd England where gay sex was illegal, " Grandage tells BBC Culture.

Queer cema has e a long way sce 1964, when Brock Peters played one of the first openly homosexual characters the US film Pawn Broker.

But today, whether 's the lcns of My Policeman, Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams characters' vorac lovemakg 2017 drama Disobedience, or the gay i Andrew Ahn's Jane Aten-spired gay rom- Fire Island, queer sex scen are gradually beg more equent and varied. Alongsi My Policeman, another mastream LGBTQ+ film that has been makg wav recent weeks is the stud gay rom- Bros, which has been herald by s edian wrer-star Billy Eichner as a historic moment for gay reprentatn film – although s supposed radilns has been disputed by some crics.

'MY POLICEMAN' HAS HARRY STYL AS CLOSETED GAY COP CGHT UP IN 1950S LOVE TRIANGLE

If the simultaneo release of the two glossy, mastream films wh an upont approach to gay male sexualy is hearteng, bate over Styl' ments has highlighted that gay sex on screen remas a ntent issue.

HARRY STYL BRAVELY SAYS GAY ROMANCE MY POLICEMAN NOT ABOUT "GUYS BEG GAY"

Whatever the nversatn about sex scen general, the strong reactn to Styl' remarks do reflect that there is an addnal set of anxieti when to the prence and ntent of gay sex scen. "I don't believe anyone has ever filmed a lbian sex scene that didn't get attacked, whether ’s by male director, or a straight female director, or a lbian director – B Ruby RichGrandage agre that forthright pictns of gay male sex film have been too rare. Bohemian Rhapsody, for example, was acced of sellg a "moralistic, sanised versn" of Mercury that was "rpectable for mastream dienc, " prumably cludg parts of the world where homosexualy is illegal.

HARRY STYL PLAYS A CLOSETED GAY MAN STEAMY ‘MY POLICEMAN’ TRAILER

And not only that, but there have been homophobic smear mpaigns agast films featurg gay ntent – like Bros, which has suffered om mass review-bombg, or Marvel's Eternals, featurg gay superhero Phastos, which was also trashed onle days before s 2021 release. When to the bate about how cema treats gay or queer sex, another plitn is the difference how the same-sex timacy between men and women has been displayed films historilly.

Wh the rise of lbian reprentatn, Rich says there was eventually more of a "ll to rporate sex between women a much more specific way" Me by Your Name was cricised for shyg away om cludg any gay sex scen (Cred: Alamy)One of the first lbian sex scen mastream, English-language cema me the very straight, very male Tony Stt's 1983 vampire film The Hunger, wh s erotic episo between Cathere Denve's bloodsucker and San Sarandon's human nocent. "For gay men, 's the oppose, " she says. " Still, the reactn to Styl' remarks suggts that might be changg, wh gay men beg more cril of how they are picted sexually.

REVIEW: 'MY POLICEMAN' TURNS A GRIPPG REAL-LIFE GAY LOVE STORY INTO A DREARY FILM

Certaly, whether the characters are gay, lbian or otherwise, there n be a fear among LGBTQ+ dienc that queer reprentatn mastream film and TV might not actually be ma wh LGBTQ+ viewers md.

Films about LGBTQ+ people that don’t feature any sex, particularly those volvg gay male characters, are often prumed to be ma for heterosexual dienc. The cisn to make gay men sexls – as when occupyg Hollywood's favoure 'gay bt iend' stereotype – often feels cynil, as if has been signed to avoid offendg agile heterosexual sensibili. "For the longt time, gay men [on screen] were loud and silly and queenie, and lbians were 'hot' and had sex on screen – that was the bric, " Lawson says.

This ti to a wir scepticism about the nature of pictns of gay life wh mastream film.

‘MY POLICEMAN’ REVIEW: HARRY STYL AND EMMA CORR BRG MIMAL HEAT TO TEPID GAY MELODRAMA

Lawson, for example, thks that there is too much foc on "g out" narrativ and first experienc of gay sex (the latter of which is somethg that My Policeman picts). It's still rare to watch a film like Bros, where both leads are openly gay om the outset.

HARRY STYL' LEADG MAN TURN AS A GAY POLICEMAN IS ALREADY GETTG RAVE REVIEWS

As My Policeman hs theatr, Grandage hop we're movg towards a time where the meras "stick around and watch" gay sex unfold, rather than yly cuttg away om . What's more, as the taboo surroundg gay sex scen mastream film tly starts to fa, there will likely be ls tense prsure for them – and the actors who star them – to articulate a queer sexual experience that everyone relat to or agre wh.