'Fire Island' Director Andrew Ahn Wanted Full Frontal. Studio Said Butts Only

If you've ever ventured out to "Fire Island" as a young gayling, then then you know seeing penis, whether intentionally or unintentionally, is a central part of the experience.

For this reason, "Fire Island" director Andrew Ahn wanted to make sure what's behind all the summer bulges were represented on screen.

"I was like, 'I want a dick,'" Ahn reportedly told Searchlight and the production behind the movie, he recounts in an interview with Vulture. "It's Fire Island. It's sex scenes. It's orgies. Like, you're going to see dick."

But they reportedly reached a compromise on set with butts.

"I understood that erect dick was going to push us into NC-17 territory, which would seriously limit who could see the movie," said Ahn. "But I remember asking, 'Can I have two soft penises, one for each orgy?' And to their credit, our producers were like, 'How many? Where?' Then, finally, they came back to me being like, 'We'll give you as many butts as you want.' And I was like, 'You know what? I'll take that deal.' I could have put more butts in it."

Despite missing gratuitous dick in the film, "Fire Island" does more than make up for it by accurately depicting the exaggerated sexual politics of summer LGBTQ+ destination hotspot.

it's a rom-com with a "Pride & Prejudice" queer twist written by lead Joel Kim Booster.

"I remember thinking the people on the island all felt like the most evolved form of their Pokémon. The bears were bear-ier, the twinks were twink-ier," Ahn recounted of first stepping foot on Fire Island to to direct the film.

"Fire Island" was almost a series on Quibi titled "Trip," but the streamer folded before anything could come to fruition. But the film probably would not have been able to be loaded with so much butt.

"I do think that as a film, the production had different priorities, and those aligned with my sensibilities better: a sense of cinema, humanity," said Ahn. "I always wanted the project to have heart underneath the comedy. I think Searchlight responded to that. For Joel, it was having another gay Asian American who could deal with the nuances of that challenge of representation."

And Ahn takes representation in all forms seriously, saying that he is "dying to put taint on the screen" for his next project.

"I just want a good taint. It's such an underrepresented erogenous zone. Representation matters," said Ahn.

Indeed! Read Ahn's complete Vulture interview.