Rami Malek’s new AIDS drama The Man I Love mixes dangerous desire, tangled romance and… musical numbers??
Director Ira Sachs says his Cannes-bound film is inspired by the “deep, painful and also transcendent experiences of gay life" in 80's NYC.
Mark
The 2026 Cannes Film Festival is just around the corner, and with buzz building around the many features set to make their debut at the prestigious French soirée, we’re finally—finally!—learning more about what should be one of the best & gayest movies at the fest.
Premiering on May 20, The Man I Love is the latest from gay filmmaker Ira Sachs (Passages, Love Is Strange). It’s been described as a “musical fantasia” set in 1980s downtown NYC about an artist who “experiences a precious window between sickness and mortality—a time when beauty and love remain within reach.”
What it’s previously not been described as, however, is a film about queer people living through the AIDS crisis. Even though that’s very much what it is!
As we’ve reported, prior coverage of The Man I Love has curiously avoided mentioning the words “queer” or “AIDS” at all. If you just took Variety‘s writing on the film at face value, for example, you’d have no clue it was meant to be a portrait of a gay man who pushed himself to make art, to live life to the fullest, even as he succumbed to the disease.
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So, what was going on? Were we regressing to a point when mainstream media was afraid to say gay, or all to willing to erase or ignore a crucial piece of our community’s history?
Of course, we had some context clues: We found a casting call from the film that was specifically scouting for LGBTQ+ people to be featured talent or background extras. Not to mention, Sachs is an out, gay filmmaker whose work almost always incorporates queer themes, and who even lived in NYC during the AIDS epidemic. It felt like he was setting out to tell a personal story of a time & place that still felt fresh in his mind
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It wasn’t until Cannes festival director Thierry Frémaux announced this year’s lineup that The Man I Love‘s actual subject matter was publicly acknowledged. But with it came a wave of backlash, with some bemoaning yet another queer movie about tragedy, while others criticized the casting of Rami Malek in the lead role—the assumed straight star of Bohemian Rhapsody playing another gay man dying of AIDS.
And while we can understand those concerns, we’ve felt certain that, especially with Ira Sachs at the helm, The Man I Love is a story will be told authentically, with genuine care and thoughtfulness.
Now, a new preview feature in The Hollywood Reporter details just how authentic & thoughtful the film will be—and it doesn’t beat around the bush when discussing how it will grapple with the realities of the AIDS crisis at the time.
Speaking with writer David Canfield, Sachs admits he’s “certainly the only person who could make this film,” sharing that it was crafted from memories of coming-of-age amidst “deep, painful and also transcendent experiences of gay life” in ’80s NYC and informed by his “increasingly intertwining relationships” to art & mortality—and pleasure, too.
The piece provides more clarity on the plot that unfolds, too. It will follow a beloved queer entertainer named Jimmy George (Malek)—fictional, yet inspired by names like comic Frank Maya “who died young but fought to create until their last breath”—as he ponders his legacy and what he’ll leave behind as the disease takes its toll.
Meanwhile, a “steamy love triangle” develops between Jimmy, his loving partner Dennis (The Sandman‘s Tom Sturridge), and their cute new neighbor Vincent. The latter is played by handsome rising star Luther Ford, a relative newcomer whose credits include playing a young Prince Harry in The Crown and the queer-inclusive spy series Black Doves.
Though the interview doesn’t directly address those upset with Malek playing another major queer role, it does make the case for his casting, with Sachs enthusiastically saying he “makes the film dangerous.” Malek, for his part, asserts this “wasn’t a given” and seems to humbly suggest it only came about because Sachs trusted and believed in him:
“Ira was essentially seeing if I was the right guy for it,” he shares. “I don’t think I’m ever the obvious choice, to be quite frank, and I think that’s nice. I choose quite carefully and this felt like a very big risk worth taking. And to that, it’s a film about people who create and what that costs.”
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As for the rest of the ensemble—which includes names like The Bear‘s Ebon Moss-Bachrach & Rebecca Hall, recently seen in Sachs’ Peter Hujar’s Day—Sachs was purposeful including a wide range of artists he’s gotten to know personally over the years:
“I know this wide variety of artists who are here with the most essential passion, of making work that they care about,” the filmmaker shares. “I took very seriously the casting of the theatrical troupe in the film, to find people who came with enough history that they could embody the depth of what it is to make theater in New York City.”
Hopefully the piece helps assuage fears that this film is being made with anything other than the best intentions. Now just one question remains: It’s been called a “musical fantasia,” but is it actually a musical???
Canfield writes, “If not a musical, The Man I Love is certainly Sachs’ most musically driven film, drawing from classics like All That Jazz and A Star Is Born in the way that live singing not only defines the movie’s sense of mood, but propels it narratively.” He also mentions that Malek “gets a few showstoppers” throughout the movie while Sachs says he tried to answer “how do songs become dialogue, even if it’s not a musical?”
Well, you’ll have to tell us, Ira! We’re… still a little confused on the musical front. But at least we know with certainty that The Man I Love is directly, unabashedly, and boldly a queer-made film about the AIDS epidemic. Everything else we’ll just have to wait to find out when the film premieres May 20 at the Cannes Film Festival.
And if you, like us, aren’t headed to the Southern coast of France this month, stay tuned for updates on when Ira Sachs’ The Man I Love might be opening in a theater near you.
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