“The whole thing about Ritchie’s sex montage was that it’s about him getting more confident and more open.
He starts off with a timid little blowjob. Then it’s a bit more than that. Then he’s a timid bottom. Then he’s going for it – flipping here and there and everywhere. Plus, then it’s fun, and he’s laughing, and he’s giggling.
We did have to lose a couple of moans. The censors said that there was too much pleasure.
Again, I’m now thinking back to that moment, and going, “F**k off!” [laughs] It’s not [an adult film]. But it was Ritchie in a three-way, and he was having the time of his life. So why did I have to take the tone of that out?””— It’s a Sin director Peter Hoar speaking with Digital Spy about the importance of representing authentic queer intimacy on the series. The show, written by Russell T. Davies, depicts the lives of a group of gay men and their friends who lived during the HIV/AIDS crisis in the United Kingdom. It’s currently airing in the UK and will premiere stateside on HBO Max on February 18.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Hoar also brought up how British tabloid The Sun responded to the scene, initially writing an article about how appalled audiences were, then changing it to how pleased audiences were following backlash:
hansniemeijer
The Sun! That is not a paper, it is a propaganda leaflet! Anti European Union, anti trade unions, anti non straight people. Don’t read it, even when offered for nothing.
ptb2016
Totally agree. Wouldn‘t even suggest using The Sun as toilet paper in a crisis so awful a rag it has become. Nothing but right wing propaganda getting worse and worse.
Celtic
Is it owned by Rupert Murdoch? ??
Boone
The S*n is basically Der Sturmer with tits.
barryaksarben
I love anything that comes thick and fast
lather
Very excited to hear this is coming to HBO Max in a matter of days. WooHoo!
Glynn
‘It’s a Sin’ is so good. Take a look at the after-show interviews available on YouTube. As for The Sun, it’s Rupert Murdocks nasty xenophobic little Englander no news newspaper which defaults to being homophobic until it faces resistance (exactly like Murdock himself).
Jon in Canada
Exactly. The Sun, like all of Murdoch’s holdings, are duplicitous and cowardly.
Jon in Canada
It’s a great watch, though if you’re a plague survivor such as myself, it will be triggering and will bring back some ugly memories. That said, gut punch though it is, it still speaks truth to a time that many have either minimized or forgotten. I’m not really a fan of Olly Alexander’s music, but he clearly has acting chops worthy of praise. He plays Ritchie perfectly, right up to the last scene.
SteersandQueers
Why does is seem that every mainstream gay movie must have
Aids as a theme? What about the millions of happy, well adjusted
gays that didn’t have Aids during the epidemic?
Gay = Aids = homophobe bait..
whatsaywhat
If you were gay in the 80s and you were living a “happy, well adjusted” life, untouched in any way by the AIDS epidemic, you probably didn’t have any cool or f*ckable friends and your conformist life was probably far, far too boring to ever make a film about.
But at least you were safe from the homophobes, right?
Iona Lexiss
Hmm. The LGBT community was devastated by the HIV/AIDS crisis regardless of whether one was infected or not, including (as you say) the ‘happy well-adjusted gays that didn’t have AIDS.’ The inference that you can’t be ‘happy and well adjusted’ with HIV or AIDS is especially insulting and hurtful and stigmatizes AIDS as a gay-only issue. Further, many did not get their diagnosis some 9-to-10 years in (into the 90s) because getting people tested was a monumental challenge on multiple levels. Being sexually active or not so active wasn’t a barometer as it only took ONCE to get infected. Does this kind of sound familiar to more current events? The LGBT community is reliving the past all over again and it has nothing to do with being happy, well-adjusted, or screwing every “cool” person who breathes and walks.
john.k
I’ve seen plenty of gay movies, mainstream and otherwise, that did not have AIDS as a theme. As for this TV series, well that is its theme. Russell Davies, who lived through the epidemic, has spoken of how it has taken him until now to be able to deal with the subject. His previous work, such as Queer as Folk, did not deal at all with AIDS
umich8588
You’re joking, right? “During the epidemic,” gay men were dropping like flies. If you lived in a major metropolitan area of the US and you were sexually active between 1975-1982 (before we learned how to protect ourselves), you died. Tell us about all the gay men you know of who were enjoying their lives during the epidemic. You’re spewing BS and you don’t know what you’re talking about.
SteersandQueers
Sorry, I don’t measure the quality of my life by how many men I can bed..
It’s just sex, darling. Cows do it, dogs do it. Get over yourself.
I should have known better to attempt rational dialog on this site.
nm4047
no more sex scenes than any str8 TV show, but don’t hear Murdoch rag paper giving that any commentary.
ptb2016
No screaming about the non stop bonking on Brigerton, but show two men kissing in a gay drama and suddenly Murdoch and his chums and their disgusting rags get outraged.
And this is a gay drama specifically about living through the Aids crisis which France has already also done in the brilliant, angry 120BPMs and Sweden in the deeply moving Never Wipe Tears Without Gloves. All of us who lived through it count ourselves lucky to have survived. But we also deserve being reminded of the callousness Of the authorities and of the friends we lost before proper research was funded. HIV no longer kills but it’s still dangerous and everybody who is sexually active needs reminding, gay or straight, to be careful.
whatsaywhat
After I sh*t on Rupert Murdoch’s grave, I will use his obituary in The Sun to wipe my arse.
trell
I’ve no interest in what some crappy rag, that objectified women for decades, referred to LGBT openly as poofters & benders, (because the word ‘homosexual’ had too many syllables for its low-IQ reader base) and is almost as trashy as the National Enquirer in the US.
I binge watched Its a Sin the other day, with my husband. We were enthralled, entertained, engaged and by the end of it, emotionally raw. It is, to my mind, one of the most amazing, poignant and powerful things on British TV that I have ever seen (The only thing that came close, was episode 6 of Russell T Davies’ ‘Cucumber’). It’s beautiful, its funny, its relevant and it will absolutely make anyone cry, again and again. It is a story that NEEDS to be told, and it is a culturally, socially and politically important historical soundpiece on 80’s Britain in the wake of the AIDS crisis.
The Sun in contrast, has a very puerile attitude to any TV sex scenes that appear on british telly. If it was a lesbian scene, or a scene featuring some ‘full frontal billy bifta’, it would get plastered on the pages with lines such as “Phwoar lads! Suzie B gets her norks out for steamy TV romp”, or “Bodyguard’s Keeley Hawes has a steamy lesbian romp in 2002 drama Tipping The Velvet” (ACTUAL SUN HEADLINE!). – The first ever man to man kiss on Eastenders was something like “Filth: Gay kiss on Top TV soap causes outrage”
Iona Lexiss
TY