{"id":434600,"date":"2026-01-24T14:18:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T14:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/434600\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T14:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T14:18:10","slug":"olivia-wilde-kinky-thriller-i-want-your-sex-heats-up-sundance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/434600\/","title":{"rendered":"Olivia Wilde Kinky Thriller ‘I Want Your Sex’ Heats Up Sundance"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\u201cI Want Your Sex<\/a>,\u201d an erotic thriller starring Olivia Wilde<\/a> as a sexually assured artist who embarks on a sadomasochistic relationship with her gallery assistant, got Sundance\u2019s pulse racing on Friday night. Cooper Hoffman<\/a> plays Elliot, the sub to Wilde\u2019s dom in Gregg Araki\u2019s latest piece of boundary-pushing provocation, one that Sundance programming director Kim Yutani dubbed a \u201creturn to form\u201d for the filmmaker in her introductory remarks.<\/p>\n

\n\tBoth stars go for it \u2014 baring all in a relationship that is kinky, but also tender at times. Not in a conventional way, of course. Wilde\u2019s character, Erika Tracy, opens a sexual Pandora\u2019s box for Hoffman, one that comes with ball gags, stilettos, whips, chains, and a cornucopia of dildos and strap-ons. There\u2019s even a disastrous threesome that goes comically off the rails.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen Araki heard that Wilde was interested in playing Erika, he made it clear what would be required. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe had a meeting, and I just said, \u2018you know, to do this part, you gotta just not give a fuck, and just want to just fucking take the plunge,’\u201d Araki recalled during a post-screening Q&A. \u201c\u2018Because I don\u2019t want to compromise it. I don\u2019t want to water it down.\u2019 And she said, \u2018Let\u2019s go.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWilde said she never looked back after signing up to play the role of an artist whose swagger masks her dwindling self-confidence.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI was just so excited by Gregg\u2019s enthusiasm for the medium, for the process,\u201d Wilde said. \u201cI wish more people made movies like [Gregg]. You just said, \u2018Let\u2019s do it. Let\u2019s get cool people together who want to tell a story, and let\u2019s just do it. And it doesn\u2019t have to be a whole thing, and it doesn\u2019t have to feel like this corporate project. It has to just come from the heart.\u2019 And I wanted to be a part of something like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHoffman, who turned heads in Paul Thomas Anderson\u2019s \u201cLicorice Pizza,\u201d<\/a> wasn\u2019t sure he was right for the part of a bumbling boy toy. Araki was drawn to Hoffman because he reminded him of Dustin Hoffman in \u201cThe Graduate\u201d and thought he could bring the same nebbish intensity to the part.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI honestly didn\u2019t think I\u2019d get cast,\u201d Hoffman admitted. \u201cI just threw my hat in the ring and kept getting closer and closer. And then they said I got the job. And I was like, \u2018Ah, shit. I gotta go do this.\u2019 And I\u2019m very happy I did.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOn the red carpet prior to the premiere, Wilde told Variety that Gen Z wants to see less sex<\/a> in movies and TV because they \u201cdon\u2019t want to see inauthenticity anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe way that sex has been portrayed in film for a long time hasn\u2019t been particularly realistic,\u201d Wilde said. <\/p>\n

\n\tThat may not be a critique that\u2019s leveled at Araki and company. The nudity and S&M mean \u201cI Want Your Sex\u201d will push the R-rating to the breaking point, but it was the film\u2019s heart that the cast kept emphasizing on stage.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cUltimately, the sex feels secondary,\u201d Chase Sui Wonders, who plays Hoffman\u2019s best friend and roommate, said. \u201cIt\u2019s a story about being obsessed with someone\u2026It\u2019s just a tragic love story.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMason Gooding, Daveed Diggs and Charli xcx<\/a> round out the ensemble. Black Bear produced the film, which is looking for distribution. The packed auditorium included executives from indie labels like Magnolia, Roadside and Mubi, and the room was so crowded that Patrick Schwarzenegger was spotted walking up and down the aisle looking for an empty seat.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI Want Your Sex\u201d is Araki\u2019s eleventh feature at Sundance, with the director having previously debuted the likes of \u201cMysterious Skin\u201d and \u201cThe Doom Generation\u201d at the mountain festival. Before the film screened, Araki praised Sundance founder Robert Redford, who died last year<\/a> at the age of 89.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere\u2019s been nobody in the history of fucking Hollywood movies who says, \u2018I want to use my fucking incredible star power and all my fucking clout to create this place in the world for those fucking weird filmmakers, those outsider filmmakers, those different voices,\u201d Araki said. \u201cIt\u2019s all about DEI.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI Want Your Sex,\u201d an erotic thriller starring Olivia Wilde as a sexually assured artist who embarks on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":434601,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[64,63,89035,134,189165,344,189166,99889],"class_list":["post-434600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cooper-hoffman","tag-entertainment","tag-i-want-your-sex","tag-movies","tag-olivia-wilde","tag-sundance-film-festival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}