Who wouldn’t want a hot, polysexual guy dedicated to saving the world from climate change as a lover? But the fact that he also has tentacles and is devoted to “cross-species intercourse” could give one pause.
Such is the dilemma faced by longtime, co-dependent friends Joey and Craig in the wild new horror-comedy Touch Me. Written and directed by queer filmmaker Addison Heimann, it will be available on demand and digital April 7th following a limited theatrical release.
After a series of
unfortunate events leaves their house uninhabitable, Joey (played by Olivia
Taylor Dudley) and Craig (Jordan Gavaris) find themselves homeless and out of
options. That’s when Joey’s mysterious ex Brian (Lou Taylor Pucci) resurfaces.
He wants her back. Along with being hot, Brian also happens to be an alien
whose touch makes anxiety and depression disappear. Craig and Joey venture to
his compound for the weekend with the hope of being healed from past traumas,
but underneath Brian’s veneer of healing is a sinister plot filled with murder,
mayhem and sex.
“Touch Me came from a place of astounding depression, as I suppose all my stories come from,” says writer-director Heimann. “I made my first film (2023’s Hypochondriac) about how mental illness can be overcome by learning to exist with it instead of against it. And here I was standing waist deep in my own sadness not taking my own advice. I wished, begged even, for something that could zap away my OCD, so I would never have to deal with the pain again.”
He continued: “I also happened to be going through a profoundly sad friendship breakup at the time, and ultimately found that those were the two themes I wanted to explore. And what better way to do it than through the wacky, weird and stylistically feverish lens of Japanese hentai cinema of the 1960s and 70s? This film is a love letter to that style of cinema, it is a love letter to those suffering with things the eye cannot see, and it is a love letter to myself.”
Out Canadian actor Jordan Gavaris co-stars in the film as Craig, who along with Joey finds himself wrapped up in Brian’s tentacles. Gavaris previously starred in the comedy series The Lake. That show, which ran for two seasons, was the first scripted Canadian Amazon Original. Gavaris played Justin Lovejoy, a gay man returning from abroad in the hopes of reconnecting with his 16-year-old daughter. The actor first came to prominence in BBC America’s cult hit Orphan Black, in which he starred alongside Tatiana Maslany. His portrayal of Maslany’s foster brother Felix earned him fan-favorite status, as well as a Canadian Screen Award (Canada’s equivalent to an Emmy). He can also be seen in Hulu’s PEN15 and Max’s critically acclaimed series Hacks.
Gavaris recently sat down with Reverend via Zoom to talk about his new movie in advance of its release. Though he is still relatively young at 36, Gavaris shared during our interview that he has been acting professionally for an impressive 20 years now. Please note: Some of his answers have been edited for space and/or clarity.
Touch Me is a very
interesting movie, to say the least. (Both laugh.)
I don’t know that I quite enjoyed it but I was definitely engrossed by
it and found it interesting. What drew you to this story or this project?
Primarily Addison, our director. I had met with him about something else and I was getting ready to go to England to go to a wedding. He had talked about this film that he was putting together and he was in the throes of the casting process, which had been kind of riddled with a couple of ups and downs. I left the Coffee Bean with like “Good luck with the movie.” He had pitched me the concept and, as a big genre fan and as a person that really likes movies that try to do something different and are provocative, the movie sounded great.
Then, a few weeks later, he just offered me the film. I didn’t really have a lot of time to prepare, so I think that was the scariest part about jumping in. I had seen his first movie too—my partner Devon Graye is one of the stars in it—and I just knew there was promise to this filmmaker. I thought he was really gifted, and hearing him talk about the film and hearing his inspirations for it and what he wanted to do. Particularly the practical effects, which are kind of a lost art and nobody does them anymore because it’s so easy to lean on VFX. I couldn’t say no to something that was so bold. I just thought I would be crazy to not go and have fun for a month and try to realize this really intensely wild idea.
I actually wanted to ask you about the practical
effects because, yeah, you don’t see that very often anymore. Did that require anything different from you
as an actor or an approach you hadn’t taken before?
Yeah, I would say so. Just
spinning technical plates while also juggling the emotional. I remember doing
on Orphan Black years ago and just
the emotion control element of that show, dealing with the multiples of the
characters. That kind of required a little extra imagination but this was
different. This was very physically technical. I was even describing a scene
where I had to stab somebody’s face and there are so many things where you have
to, like, sell the moment and you have to be in the scene and feel your
feelings while also not going too deep on a prosthetic in case you actually
hurt yourself or, God forbid, you hurt somebody else. There’s just more to
juggle, so I think having my brain kind of in split focus where I don’t just
get to release and be in a scene where I’m talking to another person, that’s
tricky. It’s much more complex. Oh my god, even handling multiple props—which
is, no lie, a challenge sometimes—if something requires a lot of physicality in
the blocking. This was next level, just trying to do two things at the same
time.
You mentioned that your husband worked on Hypochondriac with the director. Did you and Devon compare notes, either while you were in production or afterwards, about your experience of Addison?
I’m not sure if we compared notes so much as he just had to talk me down because, once you get offered something or you’re joining a project, there’s that rush of excitement where you’re like “I’m gonna do something new, this is really great!” And then there’s the flood of fear, which is “Oh my god, what if I let everybody down? What if I’m really bad? What if I let Addison down and I’m not what he’s actually looking for?” So I think, more than anything, poor Dev just had to reassure me the entire way. He was, like, “Addison will steer you, you’re gonna be fine, he’s a really good director.” Dev just kept saying over and over again how great Addison was, and his experience on Hypochondriac was really, really positive.
Addison is really decisive, and I think (not being decisive enough) tends to be one of the biggest stumbling blocks with younger, newer directors. It’s no fault of theirs whatsoever. I cannot imagine being in that position. I don’t have the vision or the decisive nature in order to just say “Yeah, we got it; we’re moving on.” I’d want to stay on something for the entire day which, of course, you can’t because you don’t have the money. (Laughs) I was really impressed with Addison’s ability to know what he wanted. And by his vision. What is on screen is what was executed on the day. There wasn’t a lot of fussing and editing. He knew what he was going for and we didn’t shoot much more than that. I think that’s really impressive.
That’s great. I think we have like 30 seconds left.
Any quick advice for young, gay or queer, aspiring actors?
Oh man, be yourself. I know, that’s so stupid! That’s the dumbest thing. But here’s the real truth: You can play anything, you can change your physicality, you can change the way you walk, you can change the way you speak. You can do all of those things and that’s fine, that’s part of the craft and it’s great. But your heartbeat, the thing or the stuff that queer people—and I’m speaking mainly from my personal experience—try to hide is the stuff that looks really, really good in front of a camera. That’s the secret sauce. It’s your vulnerability, and it’s really scary when you’re a queer person because that vulnerability is weaponized against us a lot. But if you can find a way to dig it out and just put it on camera—you don’t have to walk around the world with it—if you can just sit in front of a camera…Oh my god, it looks great.
To watch the film’s
trailer and for more information, visit www.touchmemovie.com
The Most Reverend Chris Carpenter is editor of Movie Dearest and chief contributor. He has been reviewing movies and theatre since 1996 and also contributes to Rage Monthly magazine (ragemonthly.com). He is a founding member and former Vice President of GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Critics (galeca.com) and currently serves as a nominating/voting member of its New York-based Theatre Wing. Reverend Carpenter has been an ordained minister since 1995.
No comments:
Post a Comment