When Chase Sui Wonders hit the SXSW red carpet to promote “The Studio,” she took a moment to tell IndieWire about her role in Gregg Araki’s psychosexual thriller “I Want Your Sex,” which wrapped at the end of last year in Los Angeles. The film follows Cooper Hoffman as the “sexual muse” of a renowned artist, played by Olivia Wilde, “on a journey more profound than he ever could have imagined, into a world of sex, obsession, power, betrayal and murder,” according to the official synopsis.
“‘Nowhere’ is a favorite of mine, ‘Mysterious Skin’ obviously, ‘The Doom Generation,’” Wonders said of her affinity for Araki’s work. “All of his movies are so weird and so offbeat and, yet, point to something so universal about the human psyche and to be able to work with him, an icon like that, he was at the top of my list. He’s such a nice guy and he’s jacked! Gregg Araki is absolutely jacked. He’s like busting out of his shirt. I don’t know how that man has time to work out as much as he does, or maybe it’s natural, but it was amazing.”
Charli xcx is among the cast, amid a wide array of upcoming projects from the Grammy winner. “I’ve met Charli, but I didn’t get to work with her. We were kind of like on opposite sides of the movie,” Wonders said. “But I’m sure she crushed. The character’s perfect for her.”
Wonders teased that right from the get-go, Araki completely threw her into the orbit of his erotic world. “Day one, scene one was a menagerie of raciness and Olivia was involved and Cooper was involved and I was a little bit involved and it was an aggressive, aggressive start, but it was a good tuning fork,” she said. “All those actors are really brave and [I have] a lot of respect for Cooper and Olivia.”
“It’s about Gen Z, and it has a little bit of that old movie ‘Secretary,’ another ‘old indie movie’ from the ‘90s,” Araki previously told IndieWire of the film last summer. “One thing that is striking about talking about the ‘90s and the current day is the current generation doesn’t have sex.”
“I found that so shocking and strange. 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, and that’s why my films tend to always focus on those,” he continued. “Olivia plays an artist in the movie, and she says things in the movie that I have said in interviews about how sex and sexuality are kind of what make us human. They’re such an important part of growing up and figuring out who you are, so that’s part of the movie, the importance of sexuality, and Gen Z and how they’re not having sex.”
