Tom Blyth on Playing a Closeted Gay Cop in ‘Plainclothes' and His ‘Intimate, Really Vivid' Sex Scenes With Russell Tovey
Tom Blyth may have starred in Francis Lawrence's box office hit 'The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes,' but that doesn't mean the British actor is moving on from independent film.
Case in point: 'Plainclothes.' In writer-director Carmen Emmi's feature debut, Blyth stars as Lucas, an undercover cop in 1990s Syracuse, N.Y., who falls in love with Andrew (Russell Tovey), one of his targets in a sting operation going after gay men for public indecency in a mall bathroom.
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'There is just something really refreshing about the scrappiness of a smaller film like ['Plainclothes'],' Blyth tells me during a Zoom video interview for this week's 'Just for Variety' podcast from Senegal, where he is shooting Claire Denis' 'The Cry of the Guards.' 'I've done a bunch of them this year and last year. I've gone back to that kind of on purpose. It reminds you why you got into this in the first place. It reminds you of being a 15-year-old kid with my neighbor with a camcorder making those zombie films in my backyard.'
'Plainclothes' premieres at Sundance on Jan. 26.
Not that Blyth would mind returning for the upcoming 'The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes' sequel.
'Rachel [Zegler]and I are not going to be in this one because the next one takes place 45 years after ours did. It makes me sad because I miss everyone involved.' he says, adding, 'I did text Francis the other day, and he said, 'I miss you.' And I said, 'Well, prosthetics are really great these days. It wouldn't be that hard to make me look 65.''
This Q&A has been edited for length and clarity. You can listen to the full conversation on the 'Just for Variety' podcast. Blyth also joined the Variety Studio presented by Audible at Sundance to discuss 'Plainclothes,' the full vide of which can be watched above.
How did the 'Plainclothes' script come to you?
I was filming Season 2 of my TV show, 'Billy the Kid,' in Calgary, Canada. I'd been reading a lot of scripts at that time, and this one was the first and only one where I sat up in my seat and went, 'Holy shit, I have to do this.' Carmen flew himself up to Calgary in the middle of a snowstorm to walk through the script. We went out for dinner and drinks, and it was such a good creative match from the get-go that we were like, 'Let's do this together.'
What did you know about these the sting operations?
I knew about it happening up until the '50s, but I think I wrongly and naively assumed that it died out. One of the first things Carmen did was send me the article that inspired the story from the early 2000s. I remember being really shocked by how recent it was.
Did you do a chemistry read with Russell?
Carmen and I were doing work on the script and work on the character of Lucas and building it together and we were brainstorming about who could possibly play Andrew. I texted Carmen, 'Fuck, what about Russell Tovey?' Carmen texted back saying, 'He's on my dream list. We might try and offer it to him.' And sure enough, they did and he responded. We did a chemistry test on Zoom, but I think Carmen already knew he'd be great for the part. It was more of a formality than anything.
How much did you make use of an for your sex scenes with Russell?
We had an amazing intimacy coordinator, Joey Massa. I've worked with a lot of intimacy coordinators and they're always amazing. Sometimes I feel they're called in when the scene isn't even that intimate just because everyone these days is rightfully trying to correct the course and make sure that everyone's protected. Sometimes you'll have a kissing scene and you go, 'We probably know how to do this.' But this was genuinely intimate stuff. It was really intimate, really vivid, and Joey was incredible. It felt very organic. It felt like we rehearsed it in a way where I think Russell and I both were made to feel confident and comfortable enough that we could lead it. I think it works best when the actors feel emboldened to be able to take control of the choreography and make it feel organic.
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