Do you think he is excited by this world, this subculture? Or do you think it’s something that he embraces because he is so infatuated with Ray?
I think former, I think there’s something about this world, about this community of people. Yes, Ray is the gateway into it, and certainly, when you hang out with the GBMCC, which is the Gay Bikers Motorcycle Club that we spent a lot of time with, the thing that I took away from it was the community of them. It’s such a warm environment where people can just actually be very mundane. It’s not like you think it might be, I dunno, from the outside. Some sort of everything’s a party and raucous. I remember I went up to Pride in Cambridge with them, and it was so much fun, but it was very, you just got a sense of friendship and community and being together. And that’s the thing that I think actually is what Colin craves, this sense of belonging. And I think this gay subculture gifts map. So, I think it definitely is something that tracked down the lines of Colin’s story, I think it is something that is definitely going to be a part of his world in life.
You’re in almost every scene in the film. Was there one scene or sequence that you had in the back of your head that you were the most focused on before production began?
Interestingly, I think a lot of people think the sex would be the daunting part, the intimate stuff. But actually, it was not at all, which is kind of ironic. I remember we were losing light and time on one day, and it was a really important moment of Colin cracking. And Harry and I spoke a lot about these moments of cracks for Colin, where you understand that actually, maybe he’s pushing against the barriers of this dynamic a bit. And it was in the kitchen where he has his hands over the stove part and holds onto it. And I remember thinking his mum had just passed away. There’s an emotional peak for him, and he sort of collapses on the floor, and we didn’t have much time. And I remember going into that afternoon just thinking, “Oh, this is a really important scene.” And then just got to make sure that there’s some kind of emotional payoff because with Colin playing him, as you say, he’s in every scene, and you sort of build up this journey very carefully, and it just felt like such an important moment of collapse for him. And so that was quite a daunting moment to try and pitch, right? Yeah. So I’d say that. To be honest, because the sex stuff was so clearly written, it felt like we were moving the narrative on in a very specific way. I was so up for it. I remember talking to friends of mine, and they were like, “Wow, you’re doing this movement.” “Yeah, of course I am.” You know what I mean? I think often in films, sex scenes are there to be sexy. And, obviously, I think they’re sexy, but they were moving the narrative along. It was character-driven. It was about what these two wanted. And I think that’s what I found so exciting about those moments.
I’m just thinking that the sex scenes where Colin and Ray are camping with the other bikers pop the most. Were people having fun around those moments, or did it feel very serious?
No fun, fun, fun, fun. Yeah, lots of fun. I mean, there are 10 men bent over a trestle table. I mean, it was insane. It was fun. It was great. Yeah. [Laughs.]
Also, wasn’t it cold? [Laughs]
It wasn’t too bad. We shot in the summer in the UK, and it was a good summer that year. So it wasn’t too cold. They chose wisely at the time of year to shoot. So yeah, it was kind of fine, and it was great. And the guys that were part of them were pumped from the GBMCC. Others were from the kink community. They were all involved in it. And it was just a wonderful atmosphere on set. Yeah, it was good fun.
This is just the silliest question, but had you ever been on a motorcycle before this movie?
Never. Never, never. So that was a whole new thing. And I know it’s stupid to say, but there are some things in movies that you don’t really think about. And that was definitely a moment when I was thinking about the character and about all this other stuff. And the fact that they wanted me to ride pillion was a very late realization in the journey, which was very stupid. The title of the movie, I know, it’s so weird. Your attention goes everywhere else, but the fact that I would have to ride pillion. And so they’re very good. They set me up on this motorbike course so that when I eventually did get on the motorbike with just myself, I knew what I was doing. And yeah, I had this pillion pilgrimage with the GBMCC all the way from London to Cambridge, about an hour and a bit on the bike, which is great. And that was my first time riding at the back. And the funny thing was, I remember one of them saying, “Whatever you do, you’re a sack of potatoes, you’re a sack of potatoes.” And I was in the back of my head on this bike, “A sack of potatoes. Just move with the bike. Move with the bike.” That’s what they kept saying. I was like, because when they said sack of potatoes, what they meant was “Just whatever you do, don’t lean the opposite way,” when apparently stuff can get a bit hairy.
I’m sure you’ve gotten this question already, but shaving your head.
Yes.
Was it in the script?
Yeah, it was. Yeah. Yeah.
And didn’t even think about it for a second?
Not a beat. I mean, there was a question about how short it goes. We had different images of like, do we go right to the sort of no hair or bit of hair? And we landed on a bit of hair, but I loved it. I mean, it’s so nice when you do a job, and especially in the middle of it, there’s some change in appearance, some aesthetic change. And there’s something about shaving your head that gives him, I want to say, severity, but maybe that’s the wrong word. You feel him moving, you feel him changing the story. And it’s nice when a hair and makeup, a costume detail can support that. And it felt like a really smart choice from Harry Lighton to have that happen halfway through the movie.
I dunno if Harry showed you edits of the film along the way or how close you guys are, but when you finally saw the final film, were you relieved? Had you been nervous?
I saw an edit before [doing] ADR that he just wanted to share. And I was like, “Let’s just wait for the big screening.” I’d seen a version of it, and I wanted to see the first thing on the big screen. So the first time I saw it was at Cannes. I had an idea of what it was, but the whole thing with the music and the grade and everything else, I think Harry did such a good job. Even when I saw the edit before doing the dialogue recording, I just thought tonally he’d managed to marry up things that I think were really complex. And that’s my performance aside, because he can’t ever watch your performance. It’s very difficult to have a proper sort of relationship with that. But I just thought in terms of Harry’s filmmaking and storytelling, it was so clear, and you felt the audience move with the story. You felt when they were enjoying it. And then when they were like, “Oh,” you felt the movements within it. And it’s so fun to be in an audience and to hear them lean in and then sort of be unsure about it. It is confronting in certain ways, I think, to an audience that isn’t used to this world. And what I think Harry did so amazingly was he made a gay subculture that, to a lot of people, will not be familiar with feel so familiar. And I think that was the gift of the movie, really. So yeah, I’m insanely proud of this one. I really am.
Before I let you go, you recently filmed “Stuffed” with Jodie Comer. I know nothing about it except the log line that says that it is a musical body horror movie. I know you’ve done a ton of stage stuff, but have you sung before?
No, not to this capacity. I mean, never. It was a whole new thing for Jodie and me. Jodie won’t mind me saying we’re not trained singers. We haven’t spent years perfecting our vocal range. So, the thing about this movie is that it was something that you just can’t say no to. The music is so amazing. The story is so unique and extraordinary. The director, Theo Rhys, is just brilliant. I’m hugely excited to see what they all do with it because it is an extraordinarily unique film.
“Pillion” opens in New York and Los Angeles on Friday. It expands around the country on February 14, just in time for Valentine’s Day.
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Editor-at-Large Gregory Ellwood is one of the entertainment industry's most respected journalists and critics. Based in Los Angeles, he's the only current awards expert who previously worked on Oscar campaigns at a major movie studio. Over the years, he has written for the LA Times, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and Vox, among others. He also co-founded the entertainment news site HitFix, which spawned a legion of influential Emmy and WGA Award-winning alumni.
