Sep 4
Charli XCX Headed to the Big Screen with a Role in Gregg Araki's Sexy New Thriller
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 2 MIN.
Charli XCX is following up on her feature film voice work in "The Angry Birds Movie" (2016) and "Ugly Dolls" (2019) with a part in gay "The Living End" director Gregg Araki's upcoming erotic thriller "I Want Your Sex," according to Variety.
The English singer also starred in Daniel Goldhaber's recently-wrapped "Faces of Death," Variety noted.
In Araki's film, which is set to start shooting next month, a powerful woman artist played by Olivia Wilde shows a younger man played by Cooper Hoffman the sexual ropes.
Previous reports on casting and plot of "I Want Your Sex" have generated buzz even though the movie hasn't begun production yet. IndieWire reported in July that Wilde "plays artist Erika Tracy, who taps a young protégé as a sexual muse, with Erika taking him 'on a journey more profound than he ever could have imagined, into a world of sex, obsession, power, betrayal and murder,' according to the official synopsis."
Araki teased IndieWire with some hints about the movie's theme and focus, saying, "It's a comedy" – though, the "Totally F***ed Up" director added, "it's still one of my movies."
Despite Wilde's casting, the film sounds to be more about the POV and story of Eliot, the aforementioned "protégé" of Wilde's character.
"It's about Gen Z," Araki divulged, "and it has a little bit of that old movie 'Secretary,' another 'old indie movie' from the '90s."
Explaining "Secretary," IndieWire recalled that the film "premiered in 2002, starred Maggie Gyllenhaal as the 'M' end of an S&M relationship with a high-stakes attorney, played by James Spader."
The reference prompted IndieWire to speculate that "I Want Your Sex" "will have plenty of wild psychosexual workplace antics up its sleeves."
Some frisky fun might be the entire point. Araki expressed the view that "the current generation doesn't have sex," and IndieWire backed him up on the claim, noting that "according to studies, celibacy is on the rise among a Gen Z frustrated with hookup culture and in response to the cultural sea changes around consent."
Araki spoke to that, and to how Wilde's character reflects his own real-life musings about the importance of sex in human life.
"Olivia plays an artist in the movie," Araki said, "and she says things in the movie that I have said in interviews about how sex and sexuality are kind of what make us human."
"They're such an important part of growing up and figuring out who you are," the filmmaker added, "so that's part of the movie, the importance of sexuality, and Gen Z and how they're not having sex."
No details are available yet as to the character Charli XCX will play or how large of a role it will be.
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.
