{"id":598756,"date":"2026-05-22T22:16:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T22:16:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/598756\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T22:16:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T22:16:15","slug":"tom-sturridge-on-the-man-i-love-joining-mia-hansen-loves-next-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/598756\/","title":{"rendered":"Tom Sturridge on The Man I Love, Joining Mia Hansen-L\u00f8ve’s Next Film"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\u201cThe Man I Love,\u201d Ira Sachs<\/a> poetic and tender gay drama about love, lust, death and art set in late 1980s New York, received a rapturous response after its premiere in Cannes. <\/p>\n

\n\tFor all the critical acclaim being thrown the way of lead star Rami Malek<\/a>, playing an amateur theater performer battling AIDS (Variety\u2018s review described it as his \u201cbest role since \u2018Bohemian Rhapsody’\u201d), there\u2019s been a great deal of love for Tom Sturridge<\/a>\u2018s turn as his partner. While Malek takes center stage, Sturridge works deftly in the spaces around him, offering a quiet, understated and yet deeply moving performance. <\/p>\n

\n\tFor Sturridge, last on the Cannes red carpet for \u201cIrma Veep\u201d in 2022 and prior to that \u201cOn the Road\u201d in the 2012, the experience of working with Sachs was unlike any other film he\u2019s made\u00a0\u2014\u00a0no rehearsals and no discussion about the lines or scenes before they\u2019re shot. As he notes, it\u2019s was a \u201cprofound leap of faith\u201d by the director, but one where everything can be discovered on camera. \u201cHe allows things to sit and breathe,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd he trusts that you are enough. You don\u2019t have to present. He will find.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSpeaking to Variety the morning after the premiere, Sturridge discusses what Sachs made him watch to understand both the history of the era in \u201cThe Man I Love\u201d and his cinematic grammar, and working closely with Rami Malek to find a physical language to express the silent connection of a couple that have been together for many years. He also reveals that he\u2019s joining the cast of Mia Hansen-L\u00f8ve\u2019s next project, the biopic of 18th century British writer and philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft, starring Renate Reinsve.<\/p>\n

\t\tHow did \u2018The Man I Love\u2019 come your way? Did you know Ira previously?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI didn\u2019t know Ira personally, but I knew his work and was a profound fan. I think the first film I saw of his was \u201cForty Shades of Blue\u201d and then obviously \u201cPassages\u201d popped into my mind when this script came, because it had been released just before. But I met him on Zoom and spoke for a couple of hours. I\u2019m not even sure if he spoke about the project at all, he\u2019s just someone who wants to gain the trust of people and we exchanged stories about our lives. And after that he asked me to be a part of it.<\/p>\n

\t\tAnd how did he describe the role of Dennis to you?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tHe didn\u2019t, to be honest. The way Ira works, which is sort of unique in my experience, it that he doesn\u2019t like to discuss the film at all. He doesn\u2019t like to rehearse. To the point where in a camera test or lighting setup before we start shooting, if you say the lines, he will stop. He\u2019s allergic to hearing it before film is rolling, because he wants everything to be discovered on camera.<\/p>\n

\t\tDoes that give you more freedom to experiment a little bit?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI don\u2019t know if it gives you more freedom, but I think that it gives you faith of the trust that he has. Because it is a profound leap of faith to be confident enough to know that you\u2019re going to get what you want in the, whatever it is, 48 minutes that you shoot one set up, having had no conversation or preparation about it before. But equally he gave us an enormous amount of \u2026 I find the word research so ugly \u2026 but an enormous amount of films and literature and photographs and videos to watch and absorb beforehand, so it\u2019s not that we didn\u2019t go deep into it. He just doesn\u2019t like to talk about literal scenes.<\/p>\n

\t\tWhat films did he give you?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tHe did two things. The first was to get into the history of that world. There were documentaries like \u201cHow to Survive a Plague\u201d by David France and there was an amazing film called \u201cMaestro\u201d about the club scene in the 80s. The book that was really important to me was \u201cBorrowed Time\u201d by Paul Monette. Then then the other thing that he did, which again was wasn\u2019t to do with having a literal connection to the story, but gave an understanding of his cinematic grammar, was he made us watch Chantal Ackerman\u2019s \u201cJe, Tu, Il, Elle,\u201d \u201cOpening Night\u201d by Cassavetes and Maurice Pialat\u2019s \u201cVan Gogh.\u201d It was a university education.<\/p>\n

\t\tAnd working with Rami. You have this very tender, nuanced relationship, one that exists quite beautifully without much being said. How did you both prepare for that, especially without rehearsals?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tWell, we knew each other beforehand, through friends. And it meant that we could meet up, basically. The moment we found out we were going be working on this we met in a pub in London. We didn\u2019t talk that much about the film, but I think that we tried to find a way of having a sort of a physical language that you\u2019ve been with someone for many years. As you say, there\u2019s that intimacy and silent connection. It\u2019s difficult to make that leap of imagination immediately on a set, you do need to figure out how that intimacy expresses itself. There wasn\u2019t a kind of imagined trick to that. It was just spending a lot of time together, not discussing the film particularly, but just being comfortable with our physicality, learning how our bodies move, understanding how to communicate in a way that wasn\u2019t overt.<\/p>\n

\t\tYou\u2019ve been praised in reviews for your performance and how you breathe in the spaces around Malik\u2019s character. Do you enjoy that role where you\u2019re not so much putting yourself out and there and it\u2019s in mostly in the quiet moments.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI think that unique thing about cinema, simply because of the size of the screen, is what you can express. And it is what the camera can see. There\u2019s no other medium, I think, where you can watch the human mind change its mind silently and in an instant. But I also think that it\u2019s about Ira. You need a filmmaker who\u2019s prepared to look for that. He kind of shoots long takes, he doesn\u2019t do much coverage, he allows things to sit and breathe. And he trusts that you are enough. You don\u2019t have to present. He will find.<\/p>\n

\t\tWhere did you shoot?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tIt was actually in New York, which was crazy. I don\u2019t think Ira presents it as a period film, even though it is so specific. But it was very important to him that the energy of the city now existed and we felt that every day.<\/p>\n

\t\tIra obviously like to return to certain actors. Ben Whishaw has worked with him multiple times, as has Rebecca Hall now. Are you now part of the Sachs family?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI can tell you I would love to be.<\/p>\n

\t\tWhat do you have coming up?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThe next thing I\u2019m doing is with Mia Hansen-L\u00f8ve.<\/p>\n

\t\tIs that the film about Mary Wollstonecraft, \u201cIf Love Should Die,\u201d with Renate Reinsve?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah! I vividly remember seeing Mia\u2019s film \u201cLe P\u00e8re de me enfants\u201d when I was 23 or something and it was one of the most profound cinematic experiences I\u2019ve ever had. I sort of tremble thinking about it. So I\u2019ve wanted to work with her ever since then, and it\u2019s taken me a while. I guess she had to make a film in English.<\/p>\n

\t\tSo did you petition for this one to come your way?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019ve worked with her ex-husband, Olivier (Assayas). I\u2019ve done two things with him, so I\u2019ve sort of been in the periphery of her existence. And then when I met her, I definitely petitioned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe Man I Love,\u201d Ira Sachs poetic and tender gay drama about love, lust, death and art set…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":598757,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[41891,96,185682,2839,20483,204438,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-598756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-cannes-film-festival","tag-entertainment","tag-ira-sachs","tag-movies","tag-rami-malek","tag-tom-sturridge","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=598756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598756\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/598757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=598756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=598756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=598756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}