{"id":170200,"date":"2025-12-05T22:51:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T22:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/170200\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T22:51:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T22:51:10","slug":"francois-arnaud-on-scott-hunter-sex-scenes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/170200\/","title":{"rendered":"Francois Arnaud on Scott Hunter Sex Scenes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSPOILER ALERT: This story contains details about Episode 3 of \u201cHeated Rivalry<\/a>,\u201d now streaming on HBO Max<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen Fran\u00e7ois Arnaud<\/a> read the script for the third episode of the hit queer sports drama \u201cHeated Rivalry,\u201d he had the same reaction many viewers are having now after watching it. Instead of more sexcapades between Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie), the episode follows a fast and furious romance between Arnaud\u2019s hockey player character Scott Hunter and a smoothie shop clerk named Kip (Robbie G.K.).<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt completely came out of left field,\u201d Arnaud tells me. \u201cAnd it\u2019s a real tonal shift.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhereas Shane and Ilya\u2019s story revolves around their hookups over many years, Scott and Kip actually start dating. In several scenes, Scott grapples with being in the closet. He runs from an art gallery because he fears being seen with Kip; he asks Kip to be patient, because he thinks he could come out years down the line. The two end up going their separate ways after Scott refuses to join Kip at his birthday celebration at a gay bar.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tFran\u00e7ois Arnaud as Scott Hunter and Robbie G.K. as Kip Grady in \u201cHeated Rivalry.\u201d <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsabrina lantos<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere\u2019s something sad about this guy, because in so many ways he\u2019s completely emotionally available for what\u2019s going on with this new person,\u201d Arnaud says. \u201cHe\u2019s completely there, and ready for it, but he just can\u2019t make it fit with everything \u2014 all the sacrifices he\u2019s made up until that point. He wants to, and he just can\u2019t. There\u2019s something truly paralyzed about him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHeated Rivalry\u201d is an adaptation of Rachel Reid\u2019s \u201cGame Changers\u201d novel series. Written and directed by Jacob Tierney, the series was created for the Canadian streamer Crave, and now plays in the U.S. on HBO Max<\/a>. Since the two-episode season premiere dropped on Nov. 28 \u2014 giving viewers Thanksgiving weekend to watch it \u2014 \u201cHeated Rivalry\u201d has become a viral sensation, with clips and memes of Williams and Storrie flooding social media. \u201cIt\u2019s like \u2018Normal People\u2019 on ice,\u201d Arnaud says, referring to the Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones Hulu series that garnered similar attention when it premiered during the COVID pandemic in spring 2020 .<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0\u201cI had not read the books. I had not even heard of the books,\u201d Arnaud says. \u201cJacob was like, \u2018I didn\u2019t write this for you, but I keep hearing your voice. I can\u2019t hear anybody else doing it.\u2019 He was like, \u2018Can you read these six episodes today? There\u2019s not much in the first two of Scott, but 3 is all yours, and then there\u2019s more later on.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSo what did Arnaud think?<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAt first, I was a bit overwhelmed, I guess, by the intensity of the sex scenes, but I knew Jacob had something that he would turn on its head,\u201d says Arnaud, who is best known for Showtime\u2019s \u201cThe Borgias,\u201d \u201cMidnight, Texas\u201d on NBC and guest starring on \u201cSchitt\u2019s Creek\u201d as David\u2019s ex-boyfriend. \u201cPeople are hooked by the smutty aspects of it, and there\u2019s nothing wrong with that, but I think Jacob really uses that to peel away layers. I think the end of it is quite emotionally affecting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tArnaud is no stranger to coming out. In 2020, he publicly revealed he was bisexual in a post on Instagram.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe only reason I said something\u2026is because I did not feel ashamed of it,\u201d he says. \u201cI felt hiding it, concealing it actively, which I would have had to do at that point, was an act that indicated shame. I was like, \u2018That\u2019s not how I feel.\u2019 I said it because I didn\u2019t want to hide. But I\u2019m not particularly interested in talking about my relationships, or all that. I don\u2019t want to invite people into my home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tJust days before Arnaud and I talked, Tierney made headlines when a reporter asked whether the sexualities of Williams and Storrie are relevant to the show. \u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s any reason to get into that stuff,\u201d Tierney said. \u201cI\u2019ll tell you something about the casting of both of these roles: You can\u2019t ask questions like that when you\u2019re casting, right? It\u2019s actually against the law. So what you have to gauge is somebody\u2019s enthusiasm, and willingness to do the work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tArnaud agrees. \u201cIt\u2019s absurd to think that you should be allowed to ask about someone\u2019s sexuality when they\u2019re trying to get hired for a job,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s crazy, like we\u2019re only going to hire you if you\u2019re gay? And then it\u2019s, like, how gay are you? It\u2019s a spectrum.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tArnaud and G.K. didn\u2019t meet until their first day working together. \u201cThe first time I met him was with the intimacy coordinator,\u201d he recalls. \u201cI don\u2019t think we shared a meal before.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThey worked closely with intimacy coordinator Chala Hunter for their sex scenes, which they filmed over two days, but the awkwardness did lead to some laughs. \u201cWe were making dick jokes before the sex scenes, but as soon as the cameras were rolling, we were clocked in and tuned into the reality of these characters, and we didn\u2019t feel like laughing,\u201d Arnaud says.<\/p>\n

\n\tOne particular moment was \u201cretooled,\u201d he says. \u201cScott, the superstar hockey player, was obviously the top and the smoothie boy was the bottom, but then we really wanted to reverse that dynamic in a surprising way,\u201d Arnaud says. \u201cI think that shows a sign of a vulnerability for [Scott], which I think is much more relatable then just confining him to a box.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd there there\u2019s the nakedness of \u201cHeated Rivalry.\u201d \u201cHockey players aren\u2019t as ripped as these characters,\u201d Arnaud says. \u201cThey\u2019re thicker. They have these thick thighs like tree trunks. That is not my body type. But I wanted to look like someone who\u2019s a professional athlete. So I worked out a lot. But then, as usual, on the actual day where I\u2019m supposed to be naked, I kind of panicked and ate a bunch of donuts at craft services.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tKip gives Scott a pair of blue socks imprinted with bananas to remind him of the blueberry and banana smoothies he first ordered from him at the shop. Scott wears them during his games for good luck.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0\u201cThey did give me a pair with hockey sticks on them but I don\u2019t have the banana socks,\u201d Arnaud says. \u201cMaybe they hold onto them for a potential Season 2?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNo, Arnaud does not know if a second season has been greenlit: \u201cBut\u2019s a massive hit \u2014 I can\u2019t imagine not. I just don\u2019t know how involved I would be.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPerhaps a Scott spin-off? \u201cI\u2019ve heard talks about that,\u201d Arnaud says with a smile.<\/p>\n

\n\tFor now, he teases the season finale. \u201cThere\u2019s a big moment, the emotional climax of the season involving all the characters that we\u2019ve gotten to know,\u201d Arnaud says. \u201cI hadn\u2019t seen anything, and Jacob had told me it was good, but then I went to do some ADR for a few lines. Jacob was like, \u2018I\u2019m going to show you the whole sequence.\u2019 <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI watched it, and I started crying. Jacob came into the room, and he was crying. Then we just held each other. It\u2019s really powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SPOILER ALERT: This story contains details about Episode 3 of \u201cHeated Rivalry,\u201d now streaming on HBO Max. When…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":170201,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,110171,110172,32038,111,139,69,437],"class_list":{"0":"post-170200","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-franu00e7ois-arnaud","10":"tag-heated-rivalry","11":"tag-just-for-variety","12":"tag-new-zealand","13":"tag-newzealand","14":"tag-nz","15":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}