Source : PERTHNOW NEWS
Gregg Araki flipped the gender roles of I Want Your Sex following the #MeToo movement.
The 66-year-old director has helmed the new erotic comedy, in which the naive Elliot (Cooper Hoffman) begins an affair with the provocative and sexually dominant artist Erika Tracy (Olivia Wilde), and explained how he had envisaged a very different plot when he first came up with the idea for the project over a decade ago.
Araki told Empire magazine: “I Want Your Sex was something I was working on for ten or 11 years.
“As an indie filmmaker, you work on a lot of things at the same time. And it worked out, because in those years things have changed a lot.
“Originally, it was a female intern and a male boss, and it was pitched as a Fifty Shades of Grey-style comedy. But after Me Too, I changed the roles to a male intern and a female boss, which led to the creation of Erika Tracy.
“It’s much more interesting to have a woman dom and a male sub.”
Araki got Wilde to board the project early on and feels that the movie industry wasn’t sure what to do with the House star – who has turned to directing in recent years.
The Nowhere director said: “Olivia is such a movie star, she has so much presence.
“I think of her as being like a ’40s star – Rita Hayworth or Ingrid Bergman. She has that crazy bone structure, and when she walks into a room, everyone’s like, ‘Who is that?'”
Araki added: “I feel like Hollywood doesn’t really know what to do with her.
“She got sick of playing the hot wife or girlfriend, I think that’s why she started directing.
“I first noticed her when she was on The O.C., playing the bisexual cool girl. So for her to just jump in and play this part was exciting – it’s such a juicy, crazy part for someone who has the guts to do it.”
The film also features pop star Charli XCX in the role of Elliot’s girlfriend Minerva and Araki was impressed at how much effort the Guess hitmaker put into the part.
He said: “I had a meeting with Charli before Brat came out, and she was really serious about acting.
“She’s a real cinephile, and now she’s been in, like, ten movies, but she hadn’t been in anything yet (when she made I Want Your Sex).
“She had a day off from her Sweat tour and banged everything out in one day. She never stops.”
