{"id":19257,"date":"2025-09-16T05:44:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T05:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/19257\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T05:44:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T05:44:08","slug":"in-plainclothes-russell-tovey-and-tom-blyth-play-lovers-on-opposite-sides-of-the-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/19257\/","title":{"rendered":"In \u2018Plainclothes,\u2019 Russell Tovey and Tom Blyth play lovers on opposite sides of the law"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2016, aspiring writer-director Carmen Emmi came across a Los Angeles Times article<\/a> about undercover cops who would arrest gay men on charges of lewd conduct in public bathrooms \u2014 a controversial tactic criticized as a form of entrapment. Around that time, Emmi, then a film student at the University of Southern California, had just come out and his brother was in the process of becoming a police officer.<\/p>\n

Emmi channeled those experiences into his feature directorial debut, \u201cPlainclothes,\u201d which arrives in theaters Friday. Set in Emmi\u2019s native Syracuse, New York, in the 1990s, the independent film follows Lucas (Tom Blyth), an undercover cop wrestling with his own sexuality while simultaneously leading a local police effort to lure and apprehend gay men on charges of cruising in a mall bathroom. Against his better judgment, Lucas secretly falls for Andrew (Russell Tovey), a sensitive, older gay man who becomes one of the targets of his sting operation.<\/p>\n

While the film largely unfolds as a psychological thriller told from Lucas\u2019 perspective, \u201cPlainclothes\u201d is, at its core, a steamy romantic drama built around the crackling chemistry of its leads. When they first started discussing the film in early 2023, Blyth and Emmi agreed that they wanted Tovey \u2014 whom they had watched as a heartthrob in HBO\u2019s gay romantic drama \u201cLooking\u201d \u2014 to play Andrew. After the actors\u2019 virtual chemistry read, Blyth recalled texting Emmi, \u201cI felt like there were fireworks going off in the Zoom.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a joint interview with Tovey, Blyth told NBC News that the nature of the film \u2014 which he said required the lead actors to trust each other in order to go to a really \u201cvulnerable place\u201d \u2014 made this chemistry a necessity. <\/p>\n

\"ATom Blyth and Russell Tovey in a scene from “Plainclothes.”Magnolia Pictures<\/p>\n

\u201cThe two men, when they meet, are in two individual stages of hiding, fear and vulnerability, and the reason they connect is because they really see each other through that,\u201d Blyth, 30, said of the main characters. \u201cA big part of that is just showing up and being able to be playful. Being on set with Russell is very fun, always, and that makes it so much easier when you\u2019re tackling the heavy, emotional stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

In preparation for the role, Blyth said he researched the realities of being an undercover cop and being gay in the \u201990s in a smaller city without a big queer community. The combination of those two stressors would put an \u201cimmense\u201d amount of pressure on anyone, he added. \u201cWe talked about how his breath catches in his chest when he\u2019s hiding himself, when he\u2019s putting on his cover as a straight cop, which ultimately he has to shed and then he can breathe again.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the characters first meet in the mall bathroom Lucas is surveilling, they feel like they have known each other forever, Tovey said. \u201cThey\u2019re both desperately looking for or needing a connection that\u2019s real. I think that\u2019s why that spark happens, because they can spot it in each other. It\u2019s unspoken.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blyth noted that Lucas is experiencing many of his firsts with Andrew. \u201cAs an actor, it\u2019s always fun to play someone\u2019s first time experiencing something. You get to play the wonder, the awe and the childlike quality of, \u2018This thing scares me and excites me at the same time,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"ATom Blyth in a scene from “Plainclothes.”Magnolia Pictures<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a nice dynamic there, because Lucas looks to Andrew as a lover and a mentor at the same time,\u201d Blyth added. \u201cHe\u2019s learning from him as he\u2019s falling in love with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tovey, 43, pointed out that, for most of the film, \u201cthere is a power dynamic\u201d between Lucas and Andrew that is based on their difference in \u201cage and experience.\u201d Once Andrew discovers that Lucas has never had sex with another man, Tovey said he felt strongly that his character should educate the younger man about what a healthy sexual experience can look and feel like.<\/p>\n

\u201cAndrew wants to make sure that, whatever happens, Lucas feels like his first experience was a good one. He isn\u2019t someone that\u2019s just thinking, \u2018I\u2019ve got a hookup. I\u2019m going to get as much out of this guy as I can and then dump him.\u2019 He feels the responsibility to make sure that Lucas is safe,\u201d Tovey said. When the time came to shoot their first sex scene in the back seat of a van, Tovey added, he wanted it to be apparent to the viewer that the two men made a decision to wear condoms. <\/p>\n

\"ARussell Tovey in a scene from “Plainclothes.”Magnolia Pictures<\/p>\n

That whirlwind, fleeting romance ultimately transforms Lucas\u2019 life for the better. \u201cLucas basically discovers how to be brave and how to believe in himself. He takes a risk to admit a massive truth about himself to his whole family at a family gathering, and he wouldn\u2019t have gotten there if it wasn\u2019t for Andrew,\u201d Blyth said.<\/p>\n

Andrew is left similarly altered by the liaison, but Tovey said his character is \u201calso trapped by his secrets\u201d and the pain \u201che lives with\u201d on a daily basis. \u201cBut there\u2019s some hope in Andrew that he gave this gift to Lucas. There\u2019s a part of him that feels like, \u2018I did a good thing,\u2019 even if he himself can\u2019t be his authentic self.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite publicly identifying as gay his entire career, Tovey has developed a penchant for playing closeted men, which he has done so in \u201cAmerican Horror Story,\u201d \u201cFeud: Capote vs. the Swans,\u201d \u201cAngels in America\u201d and now \u201cPlainclothes.\u201d While he has not intentionally sought out those kinds of roles, the actor said, he is \u201calways drawn\u201d to playing \u201ccharacters that are struggling with their identity, with their emotions, with their relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m always drawn to the truth in what it is to be a human being and what it is to be a queer person, and in today\u2019s climate, I just feel it\u2019s fundamental to be more visible than ever,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have to prove our existence. The only way to really do it is through art. We have to keep telling these stories, because if they exist in art, then they exist in reality. We have to tell stories that help people see similarities in these characters, rather than differences.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tovey has never appeared overly concerned with how he is perceived by Hollywood \u2014 or the general public. Early in his career, he waved off concerns that playing mostly queer characters would typecast him as a gay actor. He never set out to be a \u201cpossibility model,\u201d a term coined by trans actress Laverne Cox to describe a public figure who can serve as a beacon of inspiration for those struggling with the same marginalized identity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just wanted to play these characters. They felt connected to me, to the way that I live my life, to my romantic interests, to my friendship groups and my community, so I was able to draw on those to tell these stories better,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But having come of age in the late \u201990s and early aughts \u2014 when the AIDS epidemic was finally being addressed, and the United Kingdom\u2019s anti-gay Section 28 laws were being repealed \u2014 Tovey said he now feels a renewed duty to tell as many queer stories as possible, especially at a time when many world leaders, including President Donald Trump, have been rolling back legal protections for LGBTQ people.<\/p>\n

\u201cI stand on the shoulders of giants. The reason I get to tell these stories and say I am who I am is because of the hard work that so many other people \u2014 fundamentally, trans people \u2014 did back in history,\u201d Tovey said. \u201cI\u2019m so proud now that I can be an advocate and someone that is visible and a possibility, and someone that can use what platform I have to raise awareness of the plights of many people, especially trans people. I feel very proud of my position, but I also know that it does carry responsibilities and, in the current climate, I don\u2019t take them lightly.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 2016, aspiring writer-director Carmen Emmi came across a Los Angeles Times article about undercover cops who would…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19258,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[458,146,85,46],"class_list":["post-19257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}