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Ben Aldridge thought he was playing “daddy gay bear” Dave Bautista’s BF in ‘Knock At The Cabin’
The actor was surprised to find he'd be playing opposite Jonathan Groff instead.
M. Night Shyamalan’s upcoming Knock At The Cabin is far from the first horror film to feature queer characters—it’s not even the first gay-friendly horror this year (hello, M3GAN!).
But the apocalyptic flick does stand out for the way it centers on a gay couple—played by Spoiler Alert‘s Ben Aldridge and Looking‘s Jonathan Groff—who must fight for their daughter’s safety when a group of strangers (led by Glass Onion‘s Dave Bautista) show up at their secluded cabin getaway and force them to make an impossible decision.
Funny story though: When Aldridge first heard about the film, he thought he was auditioning to play Bautista’s partner—not Groff’s.
In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, the actor explains his initial confusion: “All it said on the email that I got was Dave Batista was in the film,” Aldridge shares. “So I was doing this entire audition thinking I was auditioning to be his younger boyfriend and that Dave was gonna be this total daddy gay bear.”
Aldridge continues: “I remember saying to Night in an actor-y way, ‘I’ve never seen Dave play a part like this kind of sensible father figure before. It feels like a real departure.’ He was like, ‘What are you saying?… Dave isn’t playing Eric. Are you mad?’ It really affected the way I was playing the scenes. A little bit like, ‘Hey, daddy!'”
Okay, for the record, we would love to see what Bautista—a total ally—could do with a daddy gay bear role. Honestly? He would’ve been great in that recent The Last Of Us episode.
But Aldridge certainly was not disappointed when he found out he’d working opposite Groff instead. In fact, the Spoiler Alert star had been a fan of his for a minute, and had even come across Looking at a time when he needed it most.
Though he came out publicly in a 2020 Instagram post on World Pride Day, he’d been out in his personal life for some years prior. He recalls filming the BBC One military drama Our Girl on location all over the world, but was the only gay person on the show—watching Looking was the closest he felt to his community at the time.
“Looking was one of my favorite TV shows,” Aldridge shares. “I was like, ‘I need some gay friends.’ I put that on and it really helped me. I didn’t yet have my own gay community. That taught me what I could potentially have in friendship.”
Elsewhere in the interview, the actor reflects on coming out, despite being told for years that it might cost him work.
“I made that decision going, ‘Well, if that’s gonna play against me in any way, I don’t wanna work with the people that are making those choices,'” Aldridge says. “What [coming out] did do, I think, was align me in queer projects that I wouldn’t have necessarily been considered for.”
“A journalist put it to me, ‘Do you feel like the universe has rewarded you for coming out?’ I don’t believe that it would reward me, but I think in being authentic, you interact with the world in a different way. Therefore, what comes back at you is also gonna be different. I have really relished playing gay men. It has given the work that I’m doing much more meaning. I’m meeting myself in my work.”
Indeed, Aldridge is experiencing the best buzz of his career as an out actor playing gay roles, both in the highly anticipated Knock At The Cabin and the recent gay romance Spoiler Alert.
Speaking of, Aldridge’s turn in Spoiler Alert is about the Queerties nominees for best Film Performance. You can vote for her below, and support all of your faves here, now through February 21.
Knock At The Cabin opens in theaters everywhere on February 3.
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