How George Michael & Madonna inspired Gregg Araki’s raunchy comedy I Want Your Sex
"The attitude of ['I Want Your Sex'] goes back to that culture of George Michael, Madonna, Prince, David Bowie, when the doors were kind of opening for sexuality and queerness." - Gregg Araki
Mark
For his first feature film in 12 years, New Queer Cinema auteur Gregg Araki made a kinky comedy about a provocative artist (Olivia Wilde) & her submissive muse (Cooper Hoffman) called I Want Your Sex.
And if that title sounds familiar, that’s because it shares a name with 1987 George Michael track, the lead single from his smash-hit debut solo album Faith. But is this moment of queer pop culture crossover just a happy coincidence, or is there a deeper intention behind it?
Your dose of fabulosi-TEA
Subscribe to our newsletter for your front-row seat to all things entertainment with a sprinkle of everything else queer.
Subscribe to our Newsletter today
“I love that question because I’ve literally done 500 interviews in the last month, and I don’t think anyone’s asked me that,” Araki joked with Queerty on the red carpet of his new film’s LA premiere.
As the director tells it, he always knew he wanted to have the word “sex” in the title—after all, the movie is very much about sex, and the apparent lack of it being had among younger generations. So when he happened to hear the eponymous George Michael song playing one day, it was a sort of lightbulb moment:
“I love the way it doesn’t really make sense, right? It’s not I want to have sex with you, it’s just I want your sex.” Araki felt the animal-like intensity & directness of its central plea was the perfect match for his film, capturing the unbridled sense of eroticism he observed was sorely lacking in the world today.
Yet George Michael’s influence on the film—and on Araki in general—goes much deeper, as do the pop artist’s many contemporaries who managed to push the conversation forward around sex & sexuality amid mainstream success.
Related
That time George Michael & Aretha Franklin joined forces to create a Grammy-winning #1 hit
The legends came together in 1987 for “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me),” one of the best pop duets, period.
“People were like, ‘Gen Z doesn’t know who George Michael is; the title won’t make any sense!’,” the filmmaker revealed. “But I didn’t care because I like the way it sounds, and for me, that is what the movie’s getting at. Even if people don’t know where we’re coming from, the attitude of it goes back to that culture of George Michael, Madonna, Prince, David Bowie, when the doors were kind of opening for sexuality and queerness.”
Araki specifically remembers that, before going solo, Michael was putting out music with Wham! that he considered to be “super gay-coded.” There was a sort of if-you-know-you-know quality for queer folks in the cocky confidence of “I’m Your Man” or in the secretive transgressions of “Careless Whisper,” yet these songs were celebrated by the masses, climbing charts all over the globe.
When he finally stepped out on his own, Michael felt even more emboldened to embrace these qualities in his work. There was nothing coded about the unbridled desire of “I Want Your Sex”—a brazen move considering it was the radio’s first taste of his upcoming album Faith—and as such it was censored by certain stations like the BBC which only permitted it to play in the evenings. Despite that, it was a massive hit that went Platinum, proving Michael would be just as much of a hot commodity without Wham!
It was a time of moral conservatism of the Reagan era, of growing fear & paranoia around the AIDS epidemic; meanwhile the biggest pop stars on the planet were saying screw it—and screw me! “There was something to that idea of sexuality being this taboo thing, but kind of an adventure,” Araki reflected.
Related
Gregg Araki on Gen Z’s distaste for sex on screen: “Sex and sexuality are kind of what make us human”
“Looking back on my life, sex and sexuality and sexual identity have been key to my entire being and life and development as a person.”
As our current administration continues to demonize queerness and our culture becomes increasingly sexless, the filmmaker couldn’t help but connect the dots between then & now. In that sense, calling his movie I Want Your Sex wasn’t just a way to grab your attention; it was a purposeful nod to George Michael and the many fearless trailblazers who gave us permission to liberate ourselves from shame and give in to desire, even if the world around us wants to scare us into sterile complacency.
And speaking of fearless trailblazers, when you go see Araki’s latest, keep and eye out for a special nod to Madonna, whose own embrace of all things Erotica was and continues to be an influence on the filmmaker.
On the red carpet, he was very pleased to share with Queerty that the Queen Of Pop makes a sort of “cameo” in I Want Your Sex via a shirt worn by Cooper Hoffman—an actual vintage tee that came courtesy of his costume designer Ari Phillips, whose been collaborating with and styling Madonna since the ’90s.
“God knows I couldn’t get a Madonna shirt in one of my movies on my own,” Araki said with a laugh. “But Ari just makes a call and it happens!”
In true provocateur fashion, Araki has Hoffman’s character wearing the shirt in a scene where he pleasures himself, getting caught up in the fantasy until he climaxes all over himself—Madonna’s iconic visage suddenly covered in the sticky stuff.
Despite the mess, we’re pretty sure she’d be proud of her little role in I Want Your Sex. And, somehow, we have a feeling George Michael would be, too.
I Want Your Sex is now playing in theaters everywhere.
Related
Putting the sex in I Want Your Sex: Intimacy coordinator Yehuda Duenyas takes us behind those steamy scenes
A Hollywood intimacy coordinator opens up about navigating kink & boundaries in Gregg Araki’s new sex comedy.
Sign up for the Queerty newsletter to stay on top of the hottest stories in LGBTQ+ entertainment, politics, and culture.
