Actor/OnlyFans daddy David Pevsner on his film “Scrooge & Marley”, holiday gratitude, and sexual shame

This holiday season, streaming services are re-releasing a very gay, 2012 re-imagining of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. It’s called Scrooge & Marley, and it features the actor/OnlyFans model David Pevsner playing a very mean (and sexy) version of the miserable miser Ebeneezer Scrooge.

“It’s such a sweetheart of a movie done with a low budget on a lot of heart,” 63-year-old Pevsner told Queerty. “I don’t care who you are: If you like Christmas, you don’t like Christmas, you’re tired of seeing A Christmas Carol, you’re not, whatever. It’s a little shaggy dog of a movie that everybody would just love.”

We talked with Pevsner about an eyebrow-raising Christmas song he once wrote, what it felt like playing a sexy Scrooge, why A Christmas Carol still inspires people 179 years after its original publication, and what the older generation can teach the younger generation about sex. Here’s what he had to say…

 

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QUEERTY: Happy holidays! So, Scrooge & Marley is actually a musical, which I didn’t expect. You yourself wrote a memorable Christmas tune, “Merry Ex-mas,” on your 2016 album, Most Versatile. It’s a catchy tune from a guy to his cheating ex, filled with threats and swears. What can you tell us about this original holiday melody?

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PEVSNER: Honestly, I wrote it so long ago, I can’t remember what the thought process was. It was one of those things where [when I wrote the album] I thought, “We just don’t have a revenge song, do we?”

As I was writing, I was like, “Oh, you can’t write that.” I don’t remember that it was specifically aimed at anybody in particular…. And being a Jew, I was like, I don’t even know if I get to write [a Christmas song]. But yeah, it definitely is a Christmas song for anyone who has a little bit of bile inside of them…. But I get a kick out of it, and I’ve heard other people sing it. They kind of get into the fact that they can sing “f*ck you” like that in a song.

So, I loved Scrooge & Marley’s very gay modern retelling of Charles Dicken’s Christmas ghost story. How did this film come together, and how did you get involved?

Apparently, it came from a writing group that [co-director Richard Knight Jr.] was in with Ellen Stoneking who co-wrote it. She wasn’t happy with what she was writing.

At the time, the only real gay Christmas film out there was Making Yuletide Gay, which I don’t know if you’ve seen it, but it’s a wonderful film by my friend Rob Williams. But it was the only one really at the time.

Anyway, they were like, “Well, okay, so why don’t we do A Christmas Carol?” They brought in another guy, Tim Isme, and they wrote this script, and it just started to like steamroll.

They found somebody to start organizing the music… It’s not a traditional musical in that people break into song based on what’s happening in the scene. The backdrop of it is a club [a piano bar called Screws]. There’s that kind of music, like, they’re at a Christmas party.

The directors, Richard specifically, really wanted to have a festive, fun feeling. And how do you do that? With music and songs and singing! Could the Ghost of Christmas Present have a musical number? Why not?

I [saw an online acting listing] for a gay Christmas Carol called Scrooge and Marley. And they were looking for an Ebenezer Scrooge as well as everybody else…. Even though, at first I was like, “They’re not gonna hire you to play this,” sure enough, I put myself on tape, and then they got in touch and said, “We really liked you, but you have to do a callback in Chicago.”

So I flew to Chicago — which is where my family was living at the time… and my dad drove me to the audition… I read the whole script and they had scenes with people. And just as I was leaving, they said, “You are Scrooge!” And that was that.

The film isn’t afraid to add a little gay sex and intrigue to a traditional Christmas tale. Scrooge is super mean, but he’s also sexy: He meets Jacob Marley at a bathhouse, he gets it on with his prep school buddy, he does poppers, and makes out with a guy at the end of the film. What was it like re-imagining Scrooge as a sexual creature? How do sex and love shape his story in the film?

Well, a lot of the sexuality aspect of it is portrayed by the younger Scrooge because as he gets older and more jaded, Scrooge feels like he doesn’t need people as much… He closes himself off…. He doesn’t connect with people at all.

As the film goes on, though, and he goes through this evening of Hell, we start to see that soften and we start to see the importance of connection and the importance of going beyond your own world and starting to think about others and taking care of people that maybe take care of you as well….

There’s really not an opportunity for me as Scrooge to show my sexuality, but he’s also not portrayed as an old crotchety guy… It’s very important to me, even if in the moment, there’s not a moment where the character expresses their sexuality, at certain points to me — because I am a sexual person and I write about sex a lot — it’s very important to keep that in the back of my mind, to keep believable that you can be a sexual person….

I’ve read some reviews and it’s funny when they’re like, “Ooh, daddy Scrooge!” I honestly never thought of that at all in 2012 when we made the film. But I’ve read enough things where they’re like, “Why can’t Scrooge be a hot daddy?” And okay! I don’t think of myself that way at all, but if that comes across in the role to certain people, great. That’s kind of cool. It’s just another level.

The film starts off by making Scrooge out to be a real jerk: He screws over a business partner; is cruel to his employees; sneers at giving to homeless queer youth; holds a decades-long grudge against his niece.

On one hand, he has been through a lot: His father hatefully disowns him. He lives through the HIV epidemic. His sister and his first love both end tragically. On the other hand, the hurt and fear turn him into an embittered queen that reminded me of some people I’ve actually met in real life.

You’ve written about your own hardships growing up in your memoir, Damn Shame. How do you connect to Scrooge’s story in the film, and what is it about his story that continues to resonate with modern gay audiences?

Well, I do honestly believe that one thing that everybody has in common is the need for love. Whether it’s from your family, from a relationship, from friends, whatever. And in the movie, he constantly sees that love gets either taken away or pulled away. And so there’s there was no kind of foundation of love in his life…. When you’re alone, that can be hard to feel.

I’ve not had that really great love relationship in my life. And I will be honest: I’m constantly hoping, like a teenage girl, that that will come along, and so there’s hope in my heart. I will never be bitter about the search for love, but I can see how somebody who just has it yanked from him constantly could get that way. So I really tried to tap into that. That’s where his anger comes from. He feels like the whole world is against him.

 

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But I think part of the reason that the story continues to capture the imagination is that there’s a sort of idea that like, things can change or a person can improve.

I think that the two themes of [Scrooge’s] redemption are appreciating what you’ve been given in life — a roof over your head, whatever — and then also that there are people that, maybe you don’t acknowledge as being in your court, as loving you, as supportive.

You know, a lot of times, we look at all the sh*tty stuff and go that’s what becomes important to us. And we kind of thrust aside the stuff that’s standing right in front of our faces. And I think that’s what happens with Scrooge: He realizes what he actually does have and that, not only does he have it, but he can use it all to make the world better….

Everybody should be beyond thinking about themselves and that kind of narcissistic, self-absorbed thing. That’s not fun to be around, certainly but also when you have the wherewithal.

I think about like billionaires and there’s a bunch of sh*tty billionaires out there, and I keep thinking like, “If I had a billion dollars, I’d be giving it away right and left.” … It makes me so angry that, you know, three billionaires could cure the ills of so much of this world. But anyway, I digress.

“Scrooge and Marley” ends with Scrooge kissing a guy around his own age. It’s pretty cool because we rarely see positive depictions of older gay men falling in love and sharing physical intimacy.

In your own life, you’ve put your sexual exploits as an escort in your memoir and thirst photos on OnlyFans, a website that most people think of as skewing young. You’ve said sharing your sexual self a sort of activism, that “we’re so f*cking closed off about sex in America,” and that photographing one’s sexual acts can be so freeing.

Why is it important for queer people to document their sexual lives? What do you think older generations can teach younger generations about sex?

Well, first off, I’m all for [taking photos of your sexual activity), but if it’s not for you, don’t do it. For people who actually do it, [others should] shut up about it. Either enjoy it or don’t, but to make it a big deal and have it be like “Oh, now you’re a porn star?!?” Who cares?

Why can’t we put our sexuality out there? … Why does it have to be so demonizing and why does it have to be so polarizing when somebody is depicted in a sexual way? It’s natural. We all do it. Why is it such a big f**king deal? I don’t get it. I’ve never gotten it.

So when I finally had the opportunity to act on that myself, I took it because I was tired of that standpoint. The first time I stood in front of a camera naked, it was a very free feeling. And to this day, whenever I shoot a video or photos, whatever, I feel like I’m a little bit in my element because there is that part of me that likes to express myself that way.

And you know, and I’ve gone through all the stuff in my head, like, “What does that say about you? Are you just acting out? Are you really about this look?” I’ve put it all in my head. I’ve tried to make myself feel sh*tty about it. And I just don’t, you know.

I am not 22 years old, and I am not a big bodybuilder guy, you know? But one of the things that I have found by putting myself out there this way is that conventional wisdom about what is “sexy” really needs to be all across the map. Because what you find sexy, I may not find sexy… but some people do.

In terms of what we can teach younger people about sex… I feel like whether it’s the right-wing trying to knock the gays down and make us feel sh*tty about ourselves, or religion telling you that “We love the sinner, hate the sin” type thing, whatever it is, I feel like we still haven’t broken through that wall that sexuality is okay. Nudity is okay.

Now, there are some TV shows that are breaking that conventional wisdom right now, and I’m thrilled that we’re not only seeing women naked, we’re seeing men naked, we’re seeing more kinds of sexual activity. When that happens in a legitimate way, I will be happier and happier because it’s part of life and it says a lot about people and how they engage.

But what I would say to younger guys is just if you want to do it and it doesn’t hurt anybody, do it. Stop judging yourself. Stop judging other people for what they like to do. To go like, “Oh, that’s gross,” when you talk about like an older guy having sexwith a younger guy, for instance. It’s not gross. Maybe it’s not your thing, but why do you have to be so nasty about it?

I think everybody has a journey into feeling good about their sexuality because we were raised with so much shame. That’s a pretty universal thing. And so, as you get older, the more you’re able to alleviate that shame and kind of engage and indulge in whatever it is that you like to do with whoever you like to do it with, and not feel guilty about it and not feel shameful about it — that’s the goal.

And that’s part of why I wrote the book. That’s part of why I do OnlyFans. I’m gonna get out there and strip around naked and get f*cked on a video. And if it makes you uncomfortable… my question is, “Why does it make you uncomfortable? What is it about it that I’m doing that makes you uncomfortable?” And those are the questions we don’t ask, and we don’t have conversations about it. And I want to have those conversations because I’m tired of it. You know, I’m really tired of the shame that’s just oozed its way into who we are.

Watch the trailer for Scrooge & Marley now available for digital rental/purchase via Amazon Prime Video, as well as Tubi and Vudu…