Writer-director Elliot Tuttle makes his assured debut feature with Blue Film, marking the arrival of a bold new voice in queer cinema. Despite being overlooked by some major US film festivals like SXSW and Sundance, perhaps due its potentially controversial themes, the intense and intoxicating film has become one of the year’s most talked about independent films, queer or otherwise. The riveting chamber piece sees a handsome twentysomething camboy, Alex, who goes by the alias Aaron Eagle (Kieron Moore), leave the protected environment of his livestreams to spend the night with one of his admirers, a much older anonymous man, Hank (Reed Birney), in return for $50,000. Before long, it transpires that these men’s pasts are potently connected. Hank was Aaron’s middle school English teacher and left in disgrace when he was convicted of the attempted sexual assault of one of Aaron’s 12-year-old classmates. What ensues is a compelling confessional, as each man’s mask drops and they share their intimate thoughts on desire, shame, and spirituality. Read our full ★★★★ review here.
With Blue Film now playing in select US theaters from Obscured Releasing, Tony-winning stage and screen veteran Reed Birney speaks exclusively with the The Queer Review’s editor James Kleinmann about why he took on the role, the documentary that informed his approach, and the strong impression that co-star Kieron Moore made on him with his audition.
James Kleinmann, The Queer Review: I’ve just watched the film for the third time, but it was my first time seeing it in a theater. It took me by surprise how different the experience was seeing it on a big screen with an audience. I’d recommend that everyone sees it that way if they can.
Reed Birney: “I feel exactly the same way. I was unprepared to see it again on the big screen. I hadn’t seen it in six months and it’s overwhelming on the big screen. There were even lines of dialogue that I noticed this time that I actually didn’t remember saying.”
Let me take you back a couple of years to when you first encountered Elliot Tuttle’s screenplay. What was your initial reaction to it?
“It was September of 2023 and I got a text from Adam Kersh, who is one of our producers, saying, ‘I have a script that I’d like to send you. It’s dark, but I think there’s something there.’ My reaction was, ‘Oh, dark! Let me see dark. I love dark.’ So he sent this script along and boy, was it dark. But I was struck instantly by how beautiful the writing was and what an incredible role Hank was, though he was called Norman then. I thought to myself, I absolutely have to play this part and I don’t think I had any hesitation. I thought, I’ve never been offered anything like this before. I have to do it.”
I understand that Elliot was quite open to your suggestions and that the collaboration between you began before the cameras started rolling. Can you give me an insight into that dialogue between you?
“We worked together from September ’23 until March ’24, when we started filming. So there were several months of back and forth. There were lots of things that I was able to contribute that Elliot was very open to and very grateful for. Not to say that I wrote the script in any way, because it’s all him, but I had a perspective about what it’s like to be older that Elliot didn’t have. He was 23 when he wrote this, so why would he know what a sixtysomething thinks? I was able to offer that insight to him.”
“I also found that there were very few, if any, common references between Aaron and Hank in the script, even though they come from the same town. It seemed to me that there would be some curiosity about what’s going on in Bedford now. ‘Have you talked to so-and-so?’ Or, ‘Do you see so-and-so?’ That kind of thing. Elliot went through and found some wonderful places to add that kind of a detail.”
“The thing I’m most proud of contributing to the movie though, is the moment towards the end when Hank gives Alex his school picture back. I literally dreamt that scene one night. It was wild. It was as clear as it is in the movie. I wrote to Elliot the next day, and I said, ‘I think this moment needs to be at the end.’ He responded instantly. I think it wraps up the movie in such a beautiful way. Handing him back his childhood.”
It’s a really beautiful moment and left me wondering whether this evening with Hank will change Alex’s life. One of the great things about this film is that you end up thinking about the characters afterwards.
“I love the imagining of where they both go. I personally don’t think Hank has much of a future. I think it’s pretty much the end of it all for him. As Hank, I say, ‘After tonight, I know I’ll never have sex again’ and I think that this reunion with Alex is the climax of his life.”
Hank also says that he’s spent every penny he has on this night with him.
“Exactly, he doesn’t have any money left. But I’m actually hopeful about Alex’s future. I feel like when he starts to sing at the end that it’s such a beautiful healing for him.”
What was your approach to playing Hank and was there anything specific that unlocked the character for you?
“Elliot recommended that I watch the this documentary called Pervert Park. That really turned out to be all the research that I needed to do. It’s a beautiful documentary; painful; agonizing. It is about a mobile home park in Florida where men live when they’re released from prison. It has got support groups and rehabilitation and job resources. They interview 10 or 15 men and the takeaway for me was that they are just these guys that obviously didn’t choose this. They don’t understand it. They know that they’re dangerous and they know that they’re doomed in a way. But they’re trying to figure it out. That was the way in for me with Hank.”
The dynamics between these two characters is fascinating to watch play out. Tell me about having Kieron Moore as your scene partner for this two-hander?
“A lot of guys turned it down. Obviously, a lot of people were like, ‘I’m not going anywhere near that.’ We had auditions over Zoom and the guys who I did read with were all really game, they clearly wanted to be there, and they were good. And then came Kieron. As you’ve seen in your meeting with him, he loves it so much. There’s so much joy around acting. He was so excited to be in the room and to go to this place.”
“He opened his mouth and it was just there. It was fully formed. We read the opening scene together, where he’s fully Aaron Eagle and then we read the the last scene where he tells about Raphael. It was an incredible performance. I felt like I was watching Brad Pitt in Thelma and Louise. Remember, we were all like, ‘Who is that? I’m looking at a star being born.’ I felt that same way about about Kieron. It was like, ‘Oh, this guy is no question, the guy.’ I could see the whole movie with him in an instant.”
I felt the same watching the film. I think he’s going to have an incredible career and I’m excited to see what he does next.
“I’m going to be dead for most of his career, so you’ll have to let me know!”
Hank talks about having had butterflies at school when Alex was in the class he taught because it made him nervous. We can see some of that giddiness in Hank now. He’s quick to smile and laugh around Alex. Going into the film, I was expecting something more grim and somber. Can you tell me about your decision to bring that lightness to your portrayal of Hank?
“Well, think about it. He’s manifested this encounter and at the beginning he’s quite nervous that it’s not going to go well and that it was a bad idea. But then Alex starts to warm up and change and becomes interested. I think it’s very flattering to Alex that this guy has flown across the country and is giving him all this money. He needs the money, but also it’s an irresistible scenario. Here’s a guy who just wants to spend the evening talking about you and how fantastic you are! Who would walk out of that?!”
“So I think Hank is giddy at being in the room with this guy. I also think that he has a very serious reason to be there. Hank has been following Aaron, and knowing who Alex was in school, he’s deeply worried that he’s gone astray. As a small atonement for what he did to Alex’s classmate, James, I think Hank feels like if he can save Alex then it will have been a life well spent. He will have done something positive.”
“What’s fascinating is that he says to Alex, ‘I want to want to have sex with you. I don’t necessarily right this minute, but I would like to want it.’ I think Hank gets into the headiness of being with him and remembering Alex. Probably on the plane ride back to Maine, Hank will think that his sexual advances were a bad idea, that it muddied the purpose of the trip.”
One of the rare and unexpected things about the film—and maybe something that some viewers find difficult—is the lack of a judgmental lens. These characters are allowed to speak freely and it’s up to us to make up our own minds about them.
“I’ve honestly never seen a movie like this, that poses these questions, along with the non-judgmental aspect. First of all, it’s not a documentary, so anything we do in the movie is not illegal. I’m fascinated that it’s this idea of pedophilia when we’re role playing that sickens people. That’s so interesting because it’s just us two grown men, role playing. Why is that so upsetting? The power of ideas is incredible.”
“We watch movies about murderers and don’t necessarily have that kind of judgment. In Dead Man Walking, Sean Penn breaks our heart. Then Tim Robbins, very smartly, cuts back to the murder and reminds us what he did. But we’re willing to have that experience of being like, ‘this guy didn’t have a chance.’ So why can’t we do that with Blue Film?”
Blue Film had a great opening weekend in New York and Los Angeles, in terms of reviews, the number of people coming to see it and the general buzz around it. To me, that shows that there is a hunger for more complex and challenging work and for audiences to be treated as adults which doesn’t always happen.
“It’s kind of thrilling, isn’t it? One thing I’m gathering from what I’m reading is that people are so grateful for a cinematic experience where they actually feel things, and not necessarily pleasant things, but that they feel something. A lot of movies—and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing—are about killing time. It’s Saturday night, what are we going to do? I don’t know, do you want to see that? Yeah, that sounds good. That’d be fun. So you sit back with your Coke and your popcorn and you let it sort of wash over you. You have some laughs, or maybe you cry, but you haven’t really been emotionally asked anything. I’m not saying that all movies have to do that, but I think audiences—certainly in New York and LA—are grateful for something that’s that powerful.”
By James Kleinmann
Blue Film is now playing in theaters in New York and Los Angeles and other select cities in the United States from Obscured Releasing.
