Want Your Sex director Gregg Araki on Gen Z and Outfest
Want Your Sex director Gregg Araki used an intimacy coordinator for the first time on the Olivia Wilde and Cooper Hoffman comedy, which opened OutfestNEXT in Los Angeles. Speaking to Variety, Araki also pushed back on reports that Gen Z is having less sex, calling messy relationships and heartbreak “fucking life.” The Magnolia Pictures release hits theaters July 31.
Key Takeaways
- Gregg Araki’s I Want Your Sex opened OutfestNEXT after the fest’s two-year hiatus, with Magnolia Pictures releasing it in U.S. theaters on July 31.
- The film marks Araki’s first use of an intimacy coordinator, a choice he said he leaves to actors’ comfort.
- Araki framed Olivia Wilde’s sex-positive lead as his “mouthpiece” and cast Cooper Hoffman as a Gen Z foil shaped by the pandemic.
- He argued Gen Z’s social unease and constant filming culture help explain cooler attitudes toward sex and nightlife.
Why did the Want Your Sex director open OutfestNEXT?
Writer-director Gregg Araki returned to features after a decade in TV with I Want Your Sex, co-written with Now Apocalypse collaborator Karley Sciortino. The comedy follows ambitious artist Erika Tracy (Olivia Wilde) into a kinky BDSM relationship with her young assistant, Elliot (Cooper Hoffman), that sparks Elliot’s sexual awakening—with near-death consequences. Charli xcx, Mason Gooding, Chase Sui Wonders and Daveed Diggs round out the cast.
At OutfestNEXT’s opening night Thursday at the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Renberg Theatre, Araki called the booking a homecoming. “I’m so excited to be here at the rebirth of Outfest. My movies have always been by, for and about queer people,” he told Variety. The L.A. native won Outfest’s achievement award in 2005, a year after Mysterious Skin.
Fans tracking LGBTQ+ and indie screenings can follow more Streaming & TV Alerts coverage as theatrical dates land.
How did Gregg Araki handle intimacy on set for the first time?
I Want Your Sex is Araki’s first film with an intimacy coordinator—his last feature was 2014’s White Bird in a Blizzard. He said he leaves the call to performers because some actors prefer not to use one, and he has heard “horror stories” of coordinators who make scenes more awkward.
“Personally, as a director, I’m very comfortable with sex scenes, I’ve been doing them all my life,” Araki said, stressing that his job is keeping the set a safe space for vulnerable performers. Wilde arrived with more nude-scene experience; Hoffman—playing a 23-year-old new to nude and sex scenes—was “terrified” but eager: “This scares the shit out of me. But that’s why I want to do it!”
What does Araki say about Gen Z turning away from sex?
Asked about reports that Gen Z is having less sex, Araki was blunt: “Like, why don’t you have sex? What’s going on?” Sex, he said, is tied to his life and art. Wilde’s character speaks for him on taking risks before time runs out: go on bad dates, love the wrong person—“That’s fucking life! That’s growing up!”
Hoffman’s character channels a pandemic-era Gen Z view. Araki said young people are unused to talking face-to-face, find social interaction uncomfortable, and face constant filming that makes private nights out harder. After a Sundance bidding war, Magnolia locked U.S. rights. Araki called it an exciting era for the Letterboxd generation—even as getting indie films made and distributed remains tough—and said he is grateful I Want Your Sex will play theaters July 31.