Meet Josh Lavery: The Brooding, Sexy, and Often Naked Star of 'Lonesome'

In the first few frames of Craig Boreham's gay-themed film "Lonesome," the viewer spots a cowboy hat in the sunset distance of the Australian landscape moving closer to the camera, along with the unmistakable walk of a weary and damaged young man escaping a repressed and hateful milieu. As we follow our protagonist, Casey, he pauses to look lustily at a half-naked hottie pumping gas, wondering, for a split second, if he might be up for some fun, only to quickly decide it's likely not a good idea. He then walks over to an older, scruffy, ginger dude. Boreham then cuts to Casey intensely fucking ginger man in the gas station rest room. This is definitely not your ordinary cowboy movie. It isn't even "Brokeback Mountain," a brilliant film that still played it safe when it came to nudity and sexual situations.

A festival favorite last year (playing at over 50), "Lonesome" delivers an honest portrait of queer sex and gay sexual encounters. The sex in the film can also be cathartic, something we rarely see. And the desire is presented without guilt or shame or apology. Mostly.

The key to the success of this impressive and disquieting film is the central performance by out newcomer Josh Lavery. who etches a beguiling, heart-wrenchingly authentic portrait of a lost boy searching for redemption... or just somewhere to sleep.

In the film, Casey is escaping from a small-town tragedy that has cut him to his core. He arrives in Sydney and meets Tib (Daniel Gabriel), a guy struggling with his own personal demons. Together (and separately) they navigate the world of sexual intoxication, as well as the debilitating loneliness one can feel in a big city. The dialogue is sparse, but Lavery says all he needs to with his expression-filled face.

Incredibly, Lavery has only three short film credits to his name besides "Lonesome," but one gets the feeling that is all about to change.

EDGE had the pleasure of speaking with Lavery.

EDGE: Josh, congratulations on a truly impressive performance.

Josh Lavery: Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.

EDGE: I want to begin by saying I was shocked to see that you only had three previous short credits on IMDb before "Lonesome."

Josh Lavery: Yeah, I've actually never studied. I had some short film experience in the past. But "Lonesome" is the first big thing that I've done.

EDGE: Can you tell me a bit about your background? And when the acting bug first bit?

Josh Lavery: Yeah, so I grew up down in the country. Then I moved to Melbourne when I was 18. And I was studying Commerce, originally, which is really boring. So, I stopped doing that. Then I got approached to do a short film. So, I did that, and then did another short film, and then nothing really happened, so I was going to have to go and do my Commerce degree. And then the week before I was supposed to start, Craig (Boreham), the director, messaged me to audition for the film, so [it was] just really crazy timing. I think it was meant to be.

EDGE: That's amazing. I was actually able to watch two of your shorts, "Bender" and "Tasty," which hit close to home because I was in a bar raid when I was in my late 20s. And it wasn't pleasant.

Josh Lavery: "Tasty" is based on a true story, here in Melbourne, which is just unbelievable that that happened. And even filming it... I remember that day felt really heavy for everybody, filming that.

EDGE: How did "Lonesome" come your way? Is it true that Craig found you on Instagram?

Josh Lavery: I got approached on Instagram to audition for it. And then I did my first audition. And then I had two more auditions following that, so I had three auditions all up. But Craig put me in touch with Miles Szanto, who's the was the lead actor in his previous film. And they were really great. They gave me some coaching sessions for my auditions, and I got the part and came to Sydney to make it.

EDGE: I really appreciated Casey's quietness. He's enigmatic. He's hurt, obviously. He's deliberately detached. Tell me about working towards creating that character with Craig.

Josh Lavery: Yeah, so I think we focused a lot on the characters' physicality during rehearsals, rather than dialogue. We spend a lot [of time] on dialogue, but a lot of it was Daniel and I finding the physicality of our characters. Casey has a lot of heaviness; he walks with a lot of heaviness in his body. So, it was finding that, and once we both found that, everything else kind of just made sense and fell into place with our performances.