Interior. Leather Bar. (2013) - full transcript

[techno music]

♪

[horns honking]

- I haven't really thought
about this until recently,

and I had this teacher at Yale
named Michael Warner,

and I just read his book called
The Trouble with Normal

that's now
about 10 or 11 years old.

But he's talking about...

gay marriage,
you know, ten years ago.

And now, it's become
an even bigger topic.

And his argument is, you know,



of course, you know...

we like to think that, you know,
we should have equal rights

for everyone
and this kind of thing,

but one thing that it's doing
that maybe

people aren't looking at
is normalizing,

you know, a queer lifestyle

that actually
is incredibly valuable.

And then it's also
going to make--

if it becomes legal nationally,
what will happen is

then pressure
will be put on anybody

that's, you know,
living a gay lifestyle

to get married.

Like, okay, we granted it.

Now everyb--
you're going to be--ev--



you know, you're going to be
expected to get married

just like straight people,

and if you're not,
then there's, you know--

- There's a fear
that the hunger

and the race for things
like gay marriage

and, like, the assimilation
into straight culture

is erasing
all of the radicalness

and the queerness of,
you know, that sort of world.

I like what you're saying,

especially in terms
of what we're creating here,

because I think it's--

I think it helps
to inform choices.

- Hey.

- Good to see you.
- Good to see you.

You know everyone.

- Hi, everyone.
- Hey. Travis.

- Hi, Travis.
- Nice to meet you.

- Nice to meet you.
- How's it going?

- Going good. All right.
- Good.

- Hey. Hey.
- Hi.

- It's beyond our grasp
for a lot of reasons

with, like, time and money
and all of it to actually try

and diligently and earnestly
try and re-create this

as if it were, like,
real 40 minutes cut from it

and people would think
that that's really what it was.

So I think even trying
to do that

is just, like,
a wrong way to go.

So this is more like
our reimagined idea of it.

So it's a little bit--

There's room to be fluid
with your interpretation

of that character.

- Good. Good.
- Yeah. Yeah.

- 'Cause, yeah, the idea
of playing Al Pacino is--

it's, like,
a whole different ballpark

than, you know,
playing this role.

- Sure.
- Right?

- Maybe just do
kind of Pacino.

Do you know what I mean?

Not SNLPacino,

but just sort of, like,
"esque," Pacino-esque.

- His kind of maybe--
Did you just get a haircut?

- Yeah. For Oz.
- Nice.

- I'm not suggesting that you
need to have sex with anybody,

and I'm not going to ask you
to have sex.

I'm not going to push that.

I mean, it's not really
part of my agenda.

But I do think that
it's interesting and important

on some level to show

you have some struggle with...

your acceptance of this, and--
- [laughs]

You might as well call cut...
- Can you--

- And put this on the thing,
'cause this is it right now.

- Yeah.
[laughter]

- I don't personally like
this project, personally.

It doesn't--I don't--nothing
artistic in it right now.

Maybe it's 'cause of my lack
of understanding of what it is.

Doesn't respond to it.

What I do respond to
and always have is his mission.

Like, I like James' mission.

I don't always understand it,
but I like--I like it.

I like what he's doing
even when I don't understand it,

and I'm into supporting it
and being a part of it.

So I guess
what my question is,

is this something that we,
as the artists working on it,

are going to manipulate
to make a certain point,

or do you just want it
to be what is?

- I want you to basically
cruise the camera.

- Okay.

- Just do that
until I tell you to stop.

- I don't know exactly
what you mean by that.

- Like,
without saying anything,

I want you to act
like this is a guy

that you're, like, cruising.
- Okay, okay. [laughs]

- You can pretend that
he's 2 feet from your face,

or you can pretend
that he's a little bit further

down the road.
- Okay.

- Not down the road,
but across the bar.

- All right.

- But I want you to look
into the camera.

- Look into the camera.
- Yeah.

- Okay.
- So pretend it's--

he's either right here...
- Gotcha.

- Or he's further away,
but look into the camera.

- Okay.

- I've always been
a huge fan of Cruising,

ever since I discovered it
a few years ago.

And I try to live
the gay dream,

and I think that the people
in that time period

were just living this gay dream
that was so spectacular,

that I try to live it in my life
as much as possible now,

and when roles
like this come along,

I feel like it's just
the perfect thing.

- I've only gone just back--
just gone back to acting,

and I thought this would be
a cool kind of first credit

to get, and also,
it just seems kind of hot.

I hope I get to make out
with Franco.

That's--[laughs]

- The reason why I want to be
in this project

is to explore something

that I'm afraid of.

That's the reason why.

- Should be pretty hot.

Yeah, I've never really been
on camera before like this,

so I'm a little nervous,

and I imagine
I'll be kind of anxious.

But I'm sure everyone's,

like, really comfortable
and nice,

so I'm looking forward to it.

- Well, I'm interested in this
because I'm excited

to work on something
out of the box.

I feel like in this town,
everything is so proper

and the same, and it's cheesy,
and it's usually very boring.

So I like things to shock people
and to move them

and, you know, something
that's original at least.

And work with you guys--
you and James Franco--

that's really exciting to me,
of course.

- I think that

the atmosphere
on the day of the shoot

is going to be
sexually charged.

I think there's going to be
a lot of tension.

I know that there's a bunch
of straight guys in the cast,

and I don't know
how they're going to react

to the vibrating homosexuality

that's going to be
all around them.

But I think
it's going to be awesome.

- ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

- Hi, baby.

I'm still in bed,

but I hope you're shaking it
over there.

[groans]

Hey, remember,
don't take it, give it.

[chuckles]

Anyways, I want to make sure
you're home by 8:00 tonight

'cause I have
dinner reservations.

All right, love you.

- Yo, what's going on, man?

I know you're at the Franco
faggot project today,

and I got to tell you, man,

I don't know
where your head is on this,

and I really think we need
to talk about this right away.

Please call me
as soon as you get this.

- Awesome. Great.
We're good.

- Cool, man.
- Thanks for taking some time.

I'm going to hand you over
to Iris.

I appreciate it.
That was really awesome.

- Thanks, Travis.
- Okay, talk to you later.

Bye.
- See you.

- Hi.
- Good morning.

- You're Val.
- Are you Val?

- Hey, I'm Michael.
- I knew it.

- Hi, Michael. Val.
- Nice to meet you.

- Hey.
- Hello. Welcome.

- How you doing?
- How you doing?

- Doing good.
- Good. Good, good, good.

Get comfortable.
- Okay.

- I'm going to do something
with those guys right there,

and then I'll be around
in a second, okay?

- All right.

[sirens wailing
in the distance]

- Jay.
- Val.

- Yeah. Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you, Jay.

[airplane flying overhead]

[indistinct chatter]

- So I want you guys
to meet each other.

So this is Master Avery.
This is A.J.

- Hi. A.J.
- Hey, A.J. How are you?

- Nice to meet you.
- And...

- Good.
- I want--

- Oh, sorry.
[laughs]

- So you guys are going to have
a scene together,

like, early on.

You're going to have, like,
a sex scene together.

There will be other people
involved.

- Mm-hmm.
- But I want to film you guys

talking about the negotiating
of what this scene will be.

- Okay.
- I think you both have read

sort of, like, what we have
outlined there right now.

- Yeah.
- But what I--

- Yeah, so you're going
to be sucking somebody off?

- Someone's--
- Sucking you off?

- Yeah. Yeah.
- Okay, got ya. Okay.

Okay, and then we have
this little play

while someone worships
my boots.

- Yeah.
- All right.

- Kind of negotiate
where your boundaries are,

what you have in mind,
what you're proposing.

But I want you to do something
that's visual.

Like, maybe it's, like,
some sort of, like,

bound-hand visual thing, as
you're describing it to him...

- Uh-huh, Yeah.
- Mm-hmm.

- Because it's something
that I want you to repeat

when we have you with Val
in a different scene,

like the visual piece.
- Uh-huh, like,

of the negotiating?
- Yeah.

So there's a scene
that's going to be,

technically, in the very end
of the film, where you guys--

You and Val are again
at the bar,

and the music's loud, and we
can't hear what you're saying,

but we're going to see
your body language.

- Right.
- And I'm hoping

that there can be body language
that we see here

with you two
that's mirrored with you--

- Like, I use it
every time I negotiate.

- Yes. Exactly.
- Sure, okay.

- So one of my coworkers,
her cousin, I guess,

is James' assistant, and that's
kind of how this happened.

- That's cool.

I'm curious
if James is going to be here.

- I'm not sure.

- He's here.
- Oh.

- No, I think he's an artist
who really is interested in--

in the nooks and crannies.
- The range of human experience.

Yeah, yeah.
- Yeah, totally.

- Nice.
- From reading his, like,

HuffPost stuff and--

- I suppose people will be--
the gays will be excited

for Franco.
- Titillated.

- Yeah.
- Definitely.

- Hopeful.
- Doing a gay porno thing.

- They're probably hoping
he's going to be naked in it.

- Probably, yeah.
- We are, yeah.

Speak for me too.
both: Yeah.

[laughter]
- I mean, yeah.

Everybody's going to want
to see him naked,

but I think that
there's going to be

a whole segment of our community

that is going to be
angrily waving signs

and writing blog posts about,

"Why is this straight dude
touching this?"

- Maybe that's
part of the point, though,

'cause, like,
if you think about

the original production
of Cruising,right?

- The ones who would protest
probably are the ones

who have the most kink
inside of them

and are suppressing it
or are afraid

of experiencing
or exploring something

because of their own fear
of being judged.

But anybody who is cozy
with themselves

and all the stuff is probably
going to be cool with it.

- Yeah, I'm curious to see
what's going on with this thing,

just as far as, like, how it's
going to reference Cruising,

'cause I didn't know that
that was the deal,

but clearly,
that's what's going on here.

- When did you find out
about this project?

- About two weeks ago.
It was just, like, an email

that went around, 'cause Franco
used to go to Playhouse West,

and he's still involved.
- Right.

- So it was just like,
"Yeah, guys,

come out for a gay-bar scene."

- Interesting.

- And they asked me
how far I could go,

and I honestly said, like,
"Everything but sex."

I mean, I don't mind kissing
and, you know--

- Are you gay?
- No.

That's the thing, it's like--
but as an actor,

I feel like you--
I don't--

I remember 30 people came,
and they all left the theater,

because they were shocked.
- Really?

- Yeah. I was like,
"I don't get it."

If you're an actor and you
don't want to kiss a guy,

I mean, if that's your limit,
I don't understand.

- So what do you think?
Are you uncomfortable?

- I mean, I'm a little
uncomfortable just 'cause

I don't know exactly,
you know, what I'm doing.

- Mm-hmm.

- But it's cool, I mean,
I'll figure it out, but--

You know, what exactly
am I doing?

- It sounds like Al Pacino
was uncomfortable

when he did it.

- Did he have a script?
[laughs]

- Fuck scripts.

Just go in there and, you know,
just kind of fit in.

Get down with what's going--
[laughs]

- And just try and fit in.
- What's going down?

- I don't know, just--

as if it's, like, a club,
you know?

[laughs]

Right? If you're undercover,
that's the key.

- Yeah, yeah.
What--

What am I fitting into?
I'm just--

You know, it's a club.
A club.

- Yeah, exactly.
I mean, I think--

- I'm having a drink.
I'm having a smoke.

- Yeah. Exactly.

- Checking it out.

- Exactly.

Yeah, I mean,
what is there to fit into?

I don't know.

Probably easy. Just fit in.
[laughs]

- All right.

- But you can't get found out.

[laughs]
You got to stay undercover.

- Not a belt,
but what would you call this?

- Yeah, that's, like, a paddle,
but call it a throng.

Yeah, it's kind of like
inner--inner--

- An in-between thing?
- An in-between kind of thing.

Yeah, I just call it a paddle,
but it's more like a strap.

A leather strap.
- Okay, great.

Basically, we're going to be
in this general area.

It's not--doesn't matter
right now how specific it is.

There's going to be some people
around here.

There's going to be this guy
down here,

and he's going to leave
your cock,

and then he's going
to worship your boots.

I mean, basically,
you're coming over here,

so Val can see you
come over here,

'cause he rebuffed you
when you had a moment with him

just a second ago.
- Okay.

- You're basically going
to submit to what he wants.

- Okay.
- Okay?

And the bottom line for me

is that we have
something that--

I don't know if this is
too extreme of a thing to use,

but it's got to be
something visual

that is, like, hitting him,
like, on his ass--on his--

[Marty Robbins' El Paso]

[music cuts off]

- How are you feeling
about this?

- I'm okay with it.

- Yeah? I mean...
- Yeah.

- We're clearly not going to do
anything that's actually hard.

- Yeah, I know. I know.
- Yeah, Yeah. Okay.

- I trust you guys.

- Your name is Val?
- Yeah.

- How did you get involved,
Val?

- James Franco asked me

to come do this.

He said that they're doing
this project,

and he wants--
they want to reenact--

they're trying to reimagine
the 40 minutes

that was cut out of Cruising.
- Cruising?

- Yeah, did you ever see
that movie?

- Never.

- It's a movie with Al Pacino,

and William Friedkin
directed it.

- Okay.

- And 40 minutes of the movie
was cut out

'cause the rating board
wouldn't let them keep it.

- Okay.
- So they said

they're reimagining
what that 40 minutes was.

- Okay.
- And would I come--

you know, would I come do it?
- Mm-hmm.

- So that's how I got involved.
- Are you the Pacino character?

Is that a real cigarette?
- Yeah. You want one?

- Yeah.
- Here you go.

- Thank you.
- You're welcome.

- Can you light that for me?

I can't fit a lighter
in my disco pants.

[laughter]

- Do you mind if we smoke
in here, sweetie?

- Oh, I don't care.

- Thank you.
- You're welcome.

Can I ask you
a personal question?

- Absolutely.

- Are you straight?
- I am straight.

Funny thing--so this morning
I get a call from Iris, right?

She calls me up, I look
at my phone, it's a 510 number.

I'm like,
"Who the hell is this?" Right?

It's, like,
7:00 in the morning, 7:30.

I'm at a girl's house,
okay?

So one second,
I'm at the girl's house

and looking at my phone,

get a voice mail telling me
I'm supposed to be here on set,

get my makeup did--done,

and I thought
it was pretty strange,

like, the whole--

I don't know.
It was strange.

I was coming from this woman's
house, this young woman's house,

coming to get dressed up
as a drag queen.

She had no idea at all,
but--

I thought it was
pretty interesting, though.

So, yeah, I am straight,
if that answers your question.

- Have you played
a homosexual guy before?

- Never.

- How do you feel about it?

- I feel good.

I feel good.
Do you feel good?

- Yeah.

Yeah, you don't know what
you're going to be doing today?

- I know
I'm going to be sporting

a platinum-blonde wig

and rocking some high heels here
in a minute.

- Are you comfortable
with physical contact

with, like, other dudes?

- How much physical contact?

- I guess whatever
would be realistic

inside of a gay S&M club.

- I mean, if it happens,
it happens.

- Would you kiss another guy?

- If it was--If it was--
If it was correct,

if it was right in the moment,
yeah.

I wouldn't force it, 'cause
then it would look stupid,

but if it was right,
I mean, yeah, why not?

If it was right, yeah.

- Have you kissed a guy before?
- I haven't.

So we're both, like,
virgins to this?

- I guess so, yeah.

I mean, I don't--

Yeah, I guess so.

- And you're
the Pacino character?

- Kind of.
I mean, not exactly.

I'm kind of playing
the character

that Pacino was playing
in the original movie.

- Okay.
Are you a Pacino fan?

- He's my favorite actor.

- Is he?
- Yeah.

- Okay, what's
your favorite Pacino movie?

- Maybe Scarecrow.

- Scarecrow?
- Yeah.

- I haven't seen that one.
What's the one with him--

I think
my favorite Pacino movie is--

Shoot.

Panic in Needle Park.

- His first one--second one.
- Yeah, I like that one.

I like that one a lot.
That was a good one.

- That's how he got
The Godfather.

- I did not know that.

- Francis Ford Coppola saw
about 12 minutes of dailies...

- Oh, okay.
- From Panic in Needle Park

before the movie came out.
- Got it.

- And he watched those dailies,
and he said, "That's the guy

I want for Michael."
- What's a daily?

- Close your eye.
- Dailies are, like...

[clears throat]
the day's sh--

the results
of that day's shooting,

like, just the scenes--
just the shots back-to-back,

unedited,
raw kind of footage

of the stuff that was shot
on that workday.

That's a daily.
- Hmm. Okay. I didn't know that.

- Collin, throw him back
some of the same questions

he asked you, in terms of, like,
you know,

you guys talked about being
straight and being on this.

One question he asked you was,
has he ever--

"Have you ever played
a gay guy?"

- Have you ever played
a gay guy?

- But wait, wait till I'm done
talking, so it's clean.

- Got it.

- So just ease into that.
- Okay.

You're telling me about dailies,
which means

you've probably been doing this
a lot longer than I have,

so you've probably done
more characters

or more scenes or whatever.

Have you played a gay guy?

- Yeah.
- You have?

- Just lately.
Yeah, I played Sal Mineo.

- Was that tough?

- It was tough to play him,
not because he was gay,

but just, you know,
to kind of get his--

- Mm-hmm.
'Cause it's different

from, like, how you are, right?
- Yeah.

- Yeah.
I can imagine.

Honestly, I have no idea
why James would want to do this.

I haven't even seen him yet.
I don't even know him.

I've only seen him
in films.

How long have you known him?

- 15 years.

- 15 years?
Holy shit.

- We started Playhouse together.

- Oh, awesome.
That's amazing.

I've only been at Playhouse
for, like, two months,

to be honest with you.

- Yeah, I'm not sure exactly why
he wants to make the movie--

why he wants to make this.
- Mm-hmm.

- I have an idea.

- What's your idea?

- I think it's about--
- 'Cause I'm really

fucking curious,
so please inform me.

- I think it's about the right

to have the freedom
to express

your artistic kind of
aspirations to tell a story

or to not have limits
on creativity

and that maybe if it's coming
from an artistic place,

that nothing should be taboo.

- Mm-hmm.

- I think--I think--

The stuff that they cut out
was people actually having sex.

It was--

Gay or straight, I think people
were actually fucking, so--

- [laughs]
- You know what I mean?

- Are people fucking today?

- I don't know.
- You're not.

- No.
- I don't think I am.

- Can you look up for me?
- Yeah.

- Would you?
- Probably not.

I mean, if you want my honest--
my honest--

I could lie and be all like,
"Yeah, I would," but honestly,

probably not, no, unless
I was getting paid a hefty sum.

Would you fuck for--
without getting paid?

- I wouldn't fuck, period.

[indistinct chatter]

- We're doing--we're doing--

We're doing the wide that's
going to not have Val dancing.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Okay.

- So do you know how to do this?
Okay, so basically--

It's basically, like,
you can just be, like--

- Oh, okay.
- Okay.

- But we need to take
some of this liquid out.

That's fine, I just
don't want him to have, like,

actual water go into his nose.
- Sure, yeah.

- I just need to get right--
- Fine.

- Giving him enough attention,
but not so much that he knows?

- Yeah.
That sounds good. Yeah.

Is everybody in here now?

Are all of the guys
for the bar scene in here?

Okay, so one thing
I want to say is,

so much about this
is about the cruising,

the watching, the looking.

So it's so much
about your guys' eyes.

So you're always--
You know, unlike 2012,

people aren't buried
into their phones

or buried, like, in something.
They're, like--

You guys are looking around.

You're looking for somebody
basically

to have some action with.

[indistinct chatter]

And when you're dancing--
so we want to have--

One of the things we want
are layers,

so I want you guys
to not be in a line

and some of you to be
on the other side of me.

You're not quite
against the wall.

You'll be here dancing.

Okay, that's perfect.

While that's happening,

you two are looking
at each other.

[indistinct chatter]

And then maybe
one more person dancing.

Are you in this?

Why don't you be back here,

and you know
that you're hot shit,

and you've got, like,
a hot-shit outfit on

or a minimal
hot-shit outfit on,

and you're kind of--
you're waiting for somebody

to come over and cruise you,
but you're sort of

cruising the room to see who's
going to come your direction.

- Yeah.
- You can handle that.

- Sounds good.
- Okay.

- Okay, and then do we want
anyone walking through

either way?

- Yeah.

[indistinct chatter]

- I can't see--like, I can't--
Like, I can't--I just can't.

My head's too big to see.

- It's the other way.
You put it on the wrong way.

- It's not working.

- Show him how to do it, Iris.

- Yeah, baby.

- I can't.
- Yo, come on.

- I literally am,
like, sweating,

and like, freaking out.
You want me to do it,

I'll do it.
- Yeah, baby.

- You really want me to do it?
- Yeah, baby.

- If I faint,
it's on your head.

- Does anyone else need water?
- Yeah.

- He wants me to tell you
it's hard to breathe.

It's a pretty intense mask.
- Really?

- Yeah.
- Someone's going to have to be

with him to, like,
make sure he doesn't--

- Okay, yeah,
just stay with him,

or whoever Travis wants
with him.

Hey, Travis?

[indistinct chatter]

- Okay, you guys.
Okay, go.

[indistinct chatter]

- I write, like,
short stories and stuff.

- Yeah.

- What about you?
What do you do?

Like, full-time?

- Thanks.
[laughter]

Thanks, man.

- Okay, uh--
- Stand right there.

- That's a little bit better.

- What temperature is that?

- That's a good color.
- Okay.

- Can we roll camera?
- Yep.

- Okay, we're going to slate
next to James here real fast.

- Stand by, guys!

- Okay.
So sound speed.

Roll cameras.

- Rolling.
- Rolling.

[A Place to Bury Strangers'
I Lost You]

♪

[paddle smacking]
- [moaning]

Thank you!

[moaning]

- Lick those boots.

[paddle smacking]
- [moaning loudly]

- Mmm.

Yeah, boy.

- Yeah, okay, great.

- Break for lunch?
- Yeah, lunchtime.

- Sweet.
Thanks, everybody.

[applause]

- Would it feel different if it
was a guy and a girl in there?

- Yeah, it wouldn't be--
- Why?

- It wouldn't make it okay.
- Why?

- Why would it feel different
for me?

- Yeah.
- I guess I'd be

a little more used to it,
so it'd feel different,

but I still wouldn't want to be
in a fucking regular porno,

gay or fucking not.
- Well, here's how I feel.

I don't like the fact
that I feel like

I've been brought up
to think a certain way.

I don't like thinking that.

I don't like realizing

that my mind has been twisted
by the way that

the world has been
set up around me,

and what that is, is straight,
normative kind of behavior.

And it's fucking instilled
into my brain.

And it's--

Yeah, I'd say, you know,
it was a little shocking to me

at first when I'm watching that,
but only--

I believe, only
because of the world around me,

because every fucking
toilet-paper commercial

has a guy--a man and a woman
living in a house together,

and every fucking love story

is a dude that wants to be
with a girl.

And the only way
they're going to end up happy

is if they walk off
into the sunset together.

I'm fucking sick of that shit,

so if there's a way for me
to just break that up

in my own mind,
I'm all for it.

And that's, I think,
why you want to be an actor

and be an artist.

- You think that this should be,
like, in movies

and people should be able
to see it and--

- Yes! Fuck, yes!

- But--
- Yes, sex should be a tool,

a storytelling tool, but we're
so fucking scared of it.

Everybody talks about sex,

but then don't dare put it
in a movie.

It's like, what the fuck?

Or you're allowed to talk
about it in certain ways,

like fucking locker-room humor
or frat-house kind of humor,

but, oh, don't show gay sex.

Don't do that.
That's the fucking devil.

Show--in previews, show people
getting fucking blown away

and killed,
but don't show gay sex.

- They do show
fucking gay sex.

They show it in,
like, rated-X theaters.

- They sh--yeah!

Put it
in the fucking mainstream.

[laughter]
- Why?

- To help tell stories!
It's a great fucking tool.

It's what--It's who we are.
Everybody has sex.

Everybody thinks about sex
all the fucking time.

We can't fucking put it
in movies?

We can put fucking people
killing each other...

- Sex is in the movies.
- Strangling each other,

murdering each other?

- There's sex in fucking movies
everywhere.

- In a certain way.
- Yeah, because you know--

- Not--not--
it's--it's fetishized.

It's turned into, you know--

- Something a little more tame
for people, right?

Something a little more
palatable for--

- Well, why don't they
give us violence

in a little more palatable way
and amp up the sex?

That's what I say.
- Because people like it.

- People like sex!
- Yeah, but they go to--

- Everybody's fucking
watching porn.

They just don't want
to talk about it.

They just don't want
to talk about it in public.

Everybody fucking
watches porn.

There's nothing wrong with it.
People have sex.

What's wrong
with what we just saw?

- It's too much, dude.
- Everybody does it.

- It's in bad taste.

- Well, we shot it
in a tasteful way.

- I don't care
how you fucking shoot it.

- What do you mean?
You just said "bad taste."

- The act itself is in kind of--
It's too much.

Like, what about
leaving something

to the fucking imagination?
Like--

- It's not a porn
for titillation.

It's something else.
We're telling a story.

- What story are we telling?

I don't know what fucking story
we're telling.

- About a guy
who's uncomfortable,

goes undercover
into this world.

And in the original movie,

it was as if he was going
down into a deep, dark place.

He was going
into an evil place.

That's the way they depicted it,
whether Friedkin

intended to or not, by giving it
a backdrop of murder,

he was going
into a dark, deep, evil place,

and he had to go "undercover"
and be gay undercover.

We're doing that.

You're playing a guy
who's going undercover,

but to me, he's not going
to a dark, evil place.

He's going to
actually a place

that's, I think,
beautiful and attractive.

- That's beautiful
and attractive?

- I think so.

- I got a lot of fucking
respect for you, and I hope,

like, you're being careful.

That's all, because--

I'm all for, like,
saying what you want to say

and doing what you want to do,
but, you know,

there's repercussions
at the end of the day.

And you're doing
some amazing shit out there,

and things like this can,
you know--

You're fucking starring
in a Disney movie,

for Christ's sake.
- Mm-hmm.

- You know, it's hard to have
this conversation with you,

because 70% of me
is on your side,

because I think the same way
about the things that I believe.

I guess I just don't see
what you're seeing,

so I'm tripping out
a little bit.

That's all, 'cause I don't--
I don't have the insight,

or, really,
I don't care to prove

the point that you're making,
so I'm not sure

what the fuck
is really going on.

- I don't either.
- Huh?

- I don't know fully
what's going on.

It's about being here.

It's about doing this,

experiencing this, just
putting ourselves out there.

That's half of it,
just doing it.

And being in a Disney movie
and doing it.

That's what's giving it
half of its power.

- Excuse me.

- So I think
you're going to have to get up.

- Yeah.

- So we've got this, we have--

We need another chair,
for sure, right?

- We've got this chair
and that chair.

- Okay.

Travis.
Oh, there you are.

- Yes.

[indistinct chatter]

- Cut.
Beautiful.

Before we launch into--

[indistinct chatter]

[dogs barking]

- Hey, dude.
- Yo.

What's going on?

- Nothing,
I'm here on--on set.

- Uh-huh. And?

- And what?
Dicks are out. Balls are out.

People are paddling each other
in the ass.

There's bruises.
There's fucking welts.

Sucking, fucking,
armpits, balls, assholes.

Everything's out, dude.

- Man, I got to tell you--
I don't fucking understand this.

I don't know why you're there.

I don't know
why you're doing this again.

- I'm doing it 'cause...

fucking James
wants to do this thing.

He's got something to say,
and he needs people

to, you know, help him say it.

- He needs people to what?
- He is. He's in it.

He's in it right alongside me.

- Exactly, and he's
a major, major actor.

And you aren't.

I'm just saying, you've done--
this is the third or fourth time

you've been at the forefront
of his expression,

and it's always
some fucked-up, radical thing.

- Why does my instinct
call me a dick?

And if he's got something to say
and he needs my help to say it,

then fuck it, man,
I'm going to help him say it.

- All right,
by that logic, then,

if he wants you to go butt-fuck
one of those guys in there

because he wants
to express something

and you're in full support
of that,

why don't you go ahead
and do that?

- James thinks it should be
drawn at a certain place.

I think it should be drawn
at a certain place.

Fucking Facebook user
number 3,000,054

thinks it should be drawn
at a certain place.

Who's to say?
It's all subjective, man.

I mean, what's he really fucking
doing at the end of the day?

He's expressing what he feels
about sexual freedom.

You know, people are--

Quentin Tarantino,
fucking burning theaters down

in his movies and shit.

- There's a reason
why this stuff doesn't play

in mainstream theaters--
in any theaters

other than pornography theaters.

- It's a pornography set
by my fucking standards,

but what's bothering me is--

- You're the one that's
in the center of all this thing.

You're in the center
of everything.

This whole thing
revolves around you.

- He's got my back, dude.
I trust him.

- I'm just saying
that at the end of the day,

anyone watching this
will consider it pornography.

- Fuck 'em.
- And you will be in it.

- I was thinking
for the scene--

because we've already gotten
you guys at the bar

and we've established
that you guys were together

and Master Avery
was at the bar--

So I was thinking for this
that it would be basically

as if he brought you
back to his apartment.

both: Okay.

- And he is kind of instructing

you guys on what to do,
or he's sort of, like,

silently watching you guys
as you guys have sex.

- Okay.
- Okay.

- But the thing that's
interesting about it to me

is less about actually
what's happening here

and the fact that Val
is watching it.

- And all that we need is--

'cause we can
shoot this tight too,

but all that we need is...
- Is something--

- Just something bright
behind it,

just right here, so if we get,
like, close on his face,

it's not black.

- How about we move this table
with the lamp in there?

- Well, we want--we want--

we want, like,
behind him to not be black.

- Yeah, nothing that would
make too much of--

- You think this is funny,
you know,

and then he'll laugh,
of course, again,

and then you can be like,
"No, this isn't funny."

And then you can, you know,
like, give him a little slap

you know, on the face,
you know, here.

You shut him up, basically.
You take charge.

You don't want him to laugh.
It's not funny to you.

It is funny to him,
but you're controlling him.

And he's going to have to,
like, listen,

or else you're going
to hurt him.

You know--
- How do--

How do you feel about that?

- I don't know, like,
that's just not my--yeah.

- It's sexy,
because you know he wants it.

And that's what's fun,
because you know he wants it,

and you got to play this part
and, like, work it out

in your head to be able
to do it, 'cause he wants it.

He's a, you know,
laughing little boy here,

thinks everything is funny,
but he really wants

to be put in his place,
and he wants to behave.

- My gosh.

- You're missing that ring
there.

- Oh, that's what it needs.

[indistinct chatter]

- Shall we get rolling?
- Yep.

- All right, so roll sound.
- Sound speed.

- Scene--don't really know.
Take one marker.

- You like that?
- Yes, sir.

Yes, sir.

- Okay.

- I wasn't, you know--
I wasn't--

Like, this is the third--

this will be the third film
I've done, and it will be

the third film I've done where
I spend the entire thing naked.

[laughter]

So I really, like--

It's not what I wanted
to do next, but--

- You must be good at it.

[laughter]

- Thanks, Ben.

But seriously, like, I'm--

I'm trusting
that it's going to be

tasteful bondage art porn,
you know, like, I--

- Done smartly?
- Yeah.

It's going to be smart.
It's going to--

Like, I can already see
that it is smart, you know?

- I don't--
like, what was--

Like, what's the point
of it all?

You're, like--

- Ooh.
- Yeah, do you guys even know?

'Cause I really
can't quite figure out--

- I have zero clue. I mean,
I was involved in so little.

- You guys were involved
in more.

- You're friends with James,
right? Like--

There's a purpose to it.

- He's got a purpose to it,

even if that purpose is
to quench his own curiosity.

- Yeah.

- Sometimes you need help
to do that, and here we are.

We're all, you know...
[laughter]

Helping him do that and maybe--
I think I've learned something.

I don't know what it is,

but I'm definitely
not the same guy I was when

I came in here this morning.
- Sure.

- Do you have a girlfriend?
- I'm married.

- You're married?
- Yeah.

- What does your wife think
about all this?

- She's cool, man.
She's--

She's a really cool girl.

You know, she knows
that I'm not taking part

in any kind of, like,
sexual things,

but she just
doesn't understand.

She's like,
"Well, I don't understand."

And I found myself
getting frustrated

trying to explain it to her.
- Yeah.

- Really frustrated,
and it became apparent

that I don't
fucking understand either.

But she was cool,
she just wants me

to make it back in time
to go to dinner tonight.

[laughter]

- I told my mom about it,
and I could feel

her stress through the phone.

Like, she did not think
this was a good idea

for our relationship
or my career or anything.

Like, she, I think,
is terrified.

- You know what? You two were
really sweet together, though.

I mean, you just kind of
were there

in such a gentle, cool,
kind of a supportive way.

I could tell you're a couple.

It was actually
really, really nice.

But I can see how people
who care about us--

Just the idea--
Maybe that's it, man.

Maybe it's the idea of things
are so much fucking bigger

than they actually are
when you see them and do them.

One thing's for sure.
We're a sexy bunch.

[laughter]
That's for sure.

Good-looking group of guys.
- Hear, hear.

- Where's my water?

- Hey, it's James.
Please leave a message.

- Who's here?
You're not here.

Where the fuck you at?

Where you at, James?
Call me back.

- How's it going over there?

- Good.

- Yeah?
- Yeah.

- Do I need to buy a strap-on
now and give it to you?

- Shut up.
Don't be stupid.

- Mm-hmm.

- It's good to hear
your voice.

- Yeah?
- Yeah.

- It's good to hear
your voice.

So?
- So?

- Everything good?

- Yeah, it's fine.

- Okay.

You're going to be home
at 8:00, right?

- Yeah, I should be home
by 8:00, probably before.

"Val sits against the wall
in the parking lot.

"Script is in his lap.

"He reads to himself.

"Val sits against the wall
in the parking lot.

"The script is in his lap.

"He reads to himself.

Interior. Leather Bar. 1980."

[Crash Course in Science's
Cardboard Lamb]

♪

[A Place to Bury Strangers'
Alone]

♪

[car beeping]

[indistinct chatter]