Latest news with #Shears
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Scissor Sisters' Jake Shears Talks ‘Pillion' Acting Debut & 'Shocking' NSFW Sex Scene With Alexander Skarsgård: 'My Jaw Was On The Floor'
SPOILER ALERT:Pillion. As Jake Shears was recently between stops in Glasgow and Bournemouth on a UK/Ireland arena tour, moviegoers were watching his titillating onscreen debut in the South of France. More from Deadline 'Pillion's Alexander Skarsgård And Harry Melling On Working With Intimacy Coordinator For 'Kinky Gay Bikers' Movie: 'It Got Messy' – Cannes Studio 'Pillion' Review: Alexander Skarsgård Is Dom For The Holidays & Harry Melling Is Hopelessly Devoted In Steamy BDSM Romance — Cannes Film Festival As Nigerian Cinema Goes From Strength To Strength, Ramsey Nouah & Rita Dominic Return For AfroCannes Screener '77: The Festac Conspiracy' Deadline caught up with the Scissor Sisters frontman following the Cannes premiere of Pillion, writer-director Harry Lighton's feature debut that sets a heartbreaking love story within a queer BDSM biker gang, featuring a supporting performance from Shears as sexual submissive Kevin. 'I'm wiped, but I'm happy,' said Shears over Zoom from his UK home, one day after wrapping up the tour that reunited the band after a 13-year hiatus. Meanwhile, Scissor Sisters is preparing to embark on The Tits Out Tour on July 1 in support of co-headliner Kesha's album Period. After co-founding the pop rock group 25 years ago and releasing solo music during the hiatus, Shears made his Broadway debut in Kinky Boots back in 2017 and recently played the Emcee in the West End's revival of Cabaret in 2023, paving the way for his onscreen acting career. But nothing could prepare him for the NSFW nature of his first film role, which culminates in a picnic tabletop orgy scene with Alexander Skarsgård's Ray, the elusive dom and romantic opposite of Harry Melling's timid sub, Colin. Although Lighton has teased more explicit shots were left on the cutting-room floor, audiences got an eyeful and Shears got a mouthful with Ray's pierced prosthetic phallus. 'Well, my jaw was kind of on the floor, reading it,' said Shears of the scene. 'I sort of couldn't believe it, but it was really exciting for me when I was reading the script. It's a movie about sex and sexual dynamics and dynamics of love. When I read it, I was really expecting it to be something dark, and what I was so pleasantly surprised by is the warmth and the humor that's in the movie. And to me, that sort of blended with the more explicit stuff in the film. I loved that combination when I was reading it. And when I read the script for the first time, it really made me smile, it made me sad, it's heartbreaking. It's got all of these different feelings in it, and it just was not what I expected. And when I read the orgy scene in the script, I was just like, 'Oh my God.'' Although Shears' acting debut is quite the unconventional role, he takes every inch of it like a champ (pun fully intended). Explicit sex scenes and piercings aside, the Grammy-nominated artist seamlessly loses himself in the film's tense relationship dynamics while shedding light on the BDSM culture captured in the source material, Adam Mars-Jones' 2020 novel Box Hill. 'All the guys in the movie are the real deal,' he noted of the film's biker gang. 'So I was reading The Leatherman's Handbook and all the sort of training and processes and the sort of formalities that are involved. … And I'm pretty well-versed in faggotry [laughs] and a lot of different things in the queer world, but other than a moment when I was about 19 years old, I hadn't really had any experiences in this world, so it was interesting to learn about it and be with all the guys.' Ahead of Pillion's world premiere at Cannes on May 18, which earned an eight-minute ovation and the Un Certain Regard Best Screenplay for Lighton (as well as the Palm Dog for canine supporting actor Hippo), the film was acquired by A24 for US distribution rights in October. Read on about Jake Shears' experience making his acting debut in Pillion, as well as his sex scene with Skarsgård and whether his co-star's piercing was in the script. DEADLINE: Pillion JAKE SHEARS: I met this woman named Kahleen Crawford, who was the casting director for it, and she had seen me in Cabaret. We ended up meeting at a house party over Christmas a couple years ago and became acquainted and friends, and she told me about this movie. And then, when I finished Cabaret — I'm trying to get the timeline right — but I was at my place in New Orleans, and she called me and she's like, 'Are you sitting down? I really think that this would be a great thing for you to do' that would be not biting off more than I could chew, I think, even though I still feel like I bit off more than I could chew. DEADLINE: SHEARS: No pun intended. But then I talked with Harry [Lighton], we had a great conversation. That's sort of how I got into the project. I've been acquainted with Skarsgård from years before, through friends and whatnot, so I was really stoked to see him. I was excited, it was really interesting. I feel like it was definitely an education for me in a lot of different ways. DEADLINE: SHEARS: Yeah, all the guys in the movie are the real deal. So I was reading The Leatherman's Handbook and all the sort of training and processes and the sort of formalities that are involved. I mean, it's a lot of stuff. You could have three college courses on it. It was a bit overwhelming, but I feel like I got a much better picture of what that scene is, that I didn't know before. And I'm pretty well-versed in faggotry [laughs] and a lot of different things in the queer world, but other than a moment when I was about 19 years old, I hadn't really had any experiences in this world, so it was interesting to learn about it and be with all the guys. So it was both warm — the experience — and it was also incredibly intimidating in certain ways, just for me personally, not that anything, not that anybody specifically made it that way. It was intimidating for me for for a lot of different reasons, the whole experience. DEADLINE: Cabaret SHEARS: No, I mean, the intimacy coordination was so thorough and so good. It really was like, I found that stuff to be the easiest. The sex in the movie to me, that wasn't sort of what was intimidating to me. The process of filming and being in a film is what I found to be really jarring, and I learned a lot from it. I knew it would be vastly different from theater, and I knew it would be vastly different from performing on stage and and singing music. It really was like a different ballgame. And I'm a big film head; all the nonfiction I read is basically film history, and that's what I consume. I watch a lot of movies, I watch a lot of old movies, it's just a deep passion of mine. So it's really fascinating for me to be on the other side of it a bit and actually seeing how a machine like that works, and being in front of the camera in that sort of machine. I didn't feel like — and this was my own insecurities, and this isn't about the sex in the movie — but I just didn't feel like I had the tools for it. Just in general, just the process of being in a movie, I was like, 'I think I'm in like over my head.' But I also at the same time, I've always really pushed myself to do things that are new, that are not necessarily something that's comfortable for you, and by comfortable I just mean, as far as your skill set. There's so many facets to this process, and it made me have a whole other kind of respect for film actors. It really did, it's just so strange how it all works and how people turn it on, And to the film and TV actors I know, it's just sort of given me like a much deeper insight into what they do. But it was exciting for me to be a part of a project that I thought was something really different and interesting, and something that I could really be proud of being in, and being a part of, that was really exciting for me in that way. So there was a whole bunch of feelings that I was just going through internally. Doing this movie, I love the people I was doing it with. Harry was amazing, both Harrys were awesome. I had a a couple scenes with Harry Melling, one of them made it into the movie. He really was just very sweet with me about my sort of insecurities or fears about doing it. And he really, I think, had quite a bit of patience with me that I really, really appreciated, that made me comfortable. And Skarsgård is somebody that I've already felt really comfortable with, and just somebody who is really nice to have a laugh with. They're both wonderful human beings. DEADLINE: SHEARS: 'Cause that's not me, you know what I mean? It was really not in my nature, so just that scene, I had to work on really, really hard to find the spot, and I hope it works. Does it work? DEADLINE: SHEARS: I feel like I just had to turn part of my brain off and turn part of myself off, and I found it incredibly challenging. You just walk away from that, and you just don't know if it works, And that's the thing about films that really blows my mind is that, anybody could make a movie and you can think it's the most incredible thing in the world, and you think that you've done the most amazing job in the world, but unless all the parts are operating together, you could really end up in something that stinks. Which is different from theater because in theater, you've got an audience there, you can kind of feel that out a little bit better. I feel like with film, I just don't see how you can see the forest for the trees. It really is some real faith. DEADLINE: SHEARS: Well, my jaw was kind of on the floor, reading it. I sort of couldn't believe it, but it was really exciting for me when I was reading the script. It's a movie about sex and sexual dynamics= and dynamics of love. When I read it, I was really expecting it to be something dark, and what I was so pleasantly surprised by is the warmth and the humor that's in the movie. And to me, that sort of blended with the more explicit stuff in the film. I loved that combination when I was reading it. And when I read the script for the first time, it really made me smile, it made me sad. It's heartbreaking. It's got all of these different feelings in it, and it just was not what I expected. And when I read the orgy scene in the script, I was just like, 'Oh my God.' DEADLINE: SHEARS: [Laughs] No, and I didn't know about the Prince Albert until the moment it was in front of my face. It might have been in the script, but it wasn't something that I even thought about until It was right in front of me, and it was so realistic that in the moment, when it's happening and being filmed, it was kind of shocking in a really great way. DEADLINE: SHEARS: It was a real reaction! [Laughs] DEADLINE: SHEARS: Yes, I gotta say that prosthetic was really realistic. To me, in real life, it felt very real. Literally and figuratively. DEADLINE: SHEARS: No, but the costumes were fantastic. I love what I got to wear in the movie. I just loved the stuff that was made for me. There was that really cool apron thing that was made for me. I just loved what I got to wear. I thought the costumes were amazing. And I felt sexy. It's funny because I'd gotten out of Cabaret in like really good shape, and as the summer had gone on, I felt like I was getting more and more out of shape. And I was like, 'I just don't know, I'm not feeling like I'm fully, like, snatched. And Harry [Lighton] was like, 'Please don't. I want you to have a more natural body in this.' And so I sort of had to get comfortable with that too, And I did feel sexy when we were doing it, it felt sexy to me. I wasn't too worried about that, even though I don't feel like I was my normal stage shape or whatever, I still felt good doing it. And I loved my hairdo. They gave me a great haircut. But the experience was a real eye-opener for me. It was just one of those things in my life that I'm really happy that I just took a chance with myself and did. I just think doing things that are out of your wheelhouse can be really good for you. And I think it was really good for me in that way, and I'm very thankful to everybody on the project for being as warm and patient and understanding and fun as they were. DEADLINE: SHEARS: My world has been Scissors, and it's gonna really be for the rest of the summer. We just put loads of work into — we just did an arena tour in the UK. And I think it was the best show we've ever made. It really was a dream show, and we put so much work into it. And it was the longest show we did, it was like a two-hour, it was a big show. So I'm just really happy with what we accomplished with that. We're touring, we're doing the Tits Out Tour — Kesha, Scissor Sisters, all summer basically, finishing it off with a show with the Pet Shop Boys in mid-August. And then I'm gonna take a little bit of a break. But it just doesn't stop. You know what I mean? I work a lot. I would love to definitely do more theater, and I'd be interested in doing more film, but I still feel like I've got a lot to learn in that regard. And I think I definitely need to keep building a toolkit for it, and I feel like I feel like I got a couple tools with this movie. But I definitely think it would be amazing to keep building that toolkit with the right stuff cause I really did enjoy the process. And I'm so happy that people seem to really love the movie. I'm just really happy how it already sort of feels sort of beloved in a way. So I'm really about that, because like I said before, you just never know what you're making, when you're making it. Best of Deadline 2025-26 Awards Season Calendar: Dates For Tonys, Emmys, Oscars & More Everything We Know About 'Nobody Wants This' Season 2 So Far List Of Hollywood & Media Layoffs From Paramount To Warner Bros Discovery To CNN & More
Telegraph
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Scissor Sisters interview: ‘Gay is not a genre of music'
The Scissor Sisters are recalling the first time they played Glastonbury Festival, back in 2004. 'I remember everything about the day so clearly,' says frontman Jake Shears. 'I was falling in love, on a second date, and we played the Pyramid stage in the daytime, which was great, and then the Dance Tent that night, which was one of my favourite gigs ever. It really felt, on that day, like something had switched for us.' 'Yep,' chimes in the multi-instrumentalist Babydaddy, 'there's a special kind of energy on that land.' It's an energy that the band will be tapping back into this year. 21 years after their debut – and a dozen or so years after they 'hit pause' – the Sisters are back, celebrating the more-or-less 20 th anniversary of their titular debut album with a run of British shows culminating in an appearance at Worthy Farm in a coveted Saturday evening slot. Their debut remains the 38 th best-selling album of all time (a record unlikely ever to be broken in the streaming era), spawning hits like Take Your Mama, Mary, and Filthy/Gorgeous. It showcased the band's catholic embrace of genres as diverse as dance-pop, glam, disco, electroclash and even yacht-rock, performed with primary-coloured brio and vivacious camp. In an era of normcore, they stood out like, in the words of Del Marquis, 'a weird shining gemstone'. But then, they've always been somewhat outré. After all, they spent their formative days as a raggedy performance art collective known as Dead Lesbian and the Fibrillating Scissor Sisters, regaling club kids in New York while dressed as a back-alley abortion (Shears) or the morning-after pill (Babydaddy). Their radiance is dialled down just a little for today's Zoom call, with Del Marquis (aka Derek Gruen) appearing in front of a wall of guitars. (His preparations for the tour, he says, have included stocking up on custom straps and X-raying his joints to ensure he can put in the hours in heeled boots) and Babydaddy (aka Scott Hoffman) emphasising his boffin-ish bona fides in what looks like a miked-up studio setting. Both gently rib Jason 'Jake' Shears, who fidgets on a sofa in a London rehearsal room. While they're adamant there were no Liam/Noel-style flame-outs or hatchets to bury, it's notable that Ana 'Matronic' Lynch is sitting this particular rodeo out. She's said her focus is on her Good Time Sallies series of history podcasts, supplanting any urge to dive back into the glitter and sequins. The remaining Sisters insist that they're on good terms, though perhaps residual tensions linger – Lynch, after all, made no secret of her displeasure at the timing of the original hiatus. Meanwhile Shears, in his memoir Boys Keep Swinging, has admitted that he behaved, during the band's imperial phase, like an 'absolute monster'. ('A regular monster,' Babydaddy clarifies, with an arched eyebrow). People have also pointed out that Shears hasn't let his own podcast (Queer the Music, which celebrates LGBTQ anthems and those who created them) get in the way of the reunion. The tour, says Babydaddy, is 'a chance to celebrate the wider, world-building aspect of Scissor Sisters. We kind of created a fantasia for people, and it'll be fun to revisit that.' A key part of that 'fantasia' was, of course, its queer-friendliness. The band have never not been out, and drew like minds to them. These included Elton John, who, blown away by their debut, took them under his wing, booking them as support on a tour and co-writing a bunch of songs on their second album Ta-Dah (including I Don't Feel Like Dancin', a UK No.1 which spent almost a year in the charts). Their 'world-building' also paved the way for contemporary LGBTQ stars like Lil Nas X and Chappell Roan, though they gently pushed back against the label of 'gay band' back in the day. 'There was a time when the term 'gay artist' kind of implied that you made music for gay people only,' says Shears. 'We always wanted to be more broad church than that.' Del Marquis: ''Gay' is not a genre of music. We're gay men, we let everybody know we are, we're not coming out with girlfriends any time soon, but now can we please get beyond that?' 'It was a funny paradox,' says Babydaddy. 'Journalists used to try to trap us into a 'gotcha' moment – 'Look how openly gay you are, yet you say you're not a gay band.' It wasn't a contradiction to say that we're open about who we are but we make music that hopefully transcends who we're dating.' The UK 'got' Scissor Sisters' left-field charms first, hence its pole position for the reunion. It was some time before America capitulated – their network TV appearances, with Shears in, say, scarlet leather chaps and matching angel wings, would regularly cause fits of conniption in the heartland. Ironically, it was 2012's Let's Have A Kiki, one of the band's swishiest songs, inspired by drag-ball culture (with a video featuring a vogue-ing Shears in an orange codpiece) that eventually brought them massive success in their homeland. Yet when Sarah Jessica Parker did a version of the song on Glee, it proved, for Shears, something of an apotheosis: 'There was a sense in myself that, with this, we did what we set out to do, our work here is done.' The band went on hiatus shortly afterwards. In the interim, they've been far from idle. Del Marquis reverted to his original vocation of furniture designer, as well as touring with a new band, Slow Knights. Babydaddy has been writing graphic novels (his Nostalgia series melds noir and cyberpunk) as well as songwriting and producing for the likes of Kylie and Ladyhawke; and Shears has become what he calls 'a theatre person,' starring in Kinky Boots on Broadway and playing the MC in Cabaret in the West End, as well as collaborating with perennial bestie Elton and playwright James Graham on the ill-fated Tammy Faye musical. Today, some of their breezier offerings now seem like relics from a less turbulent epoch. But others have only gained in relevance. T-ts On The Radio, for instance, is a sharp indictment of the commodification of subcultures. 'Is there still room for an underground scene like the one we got our start in?' ponders Babydaddy. 'You can bet that something's happening under some rocks in New York that it's not even our place to turn over'. Meanwhile, the band's other hits have been embraced by the TikTok generation. 'There's a deep cut called I Can't Decide, from Ta-Dah,' says Shears, 'that's got a whole new life in memes, I think, because the line 'I can't decide whether you should live or die' has been adopted by the gaming community, for obvious reasons.' Perspective, says Shears, is a wonderful thing. 'It's so cool that we've all got our different accomplishments, and they can be fed back into what we're doing with the band,' he says. 'That's something I'm really excited about.' An American tour with Kesha is set to follow the UK jaunt. Yet, in the era of Trump 2.0, Shears expresses equal parts trepidation and defiance about the prospect. 'Hard-won freedoms can be eroded, or even revoked,' he notes. 'So visibility is more important than ever, bringing your queer faggot power into a large space, and claiming it as your own.' All of which begs the question: how long will the kiki last this time round? 'Let's see how the shows go,' cautions Babydaddy. 'Then we'll talk again.' Shears: 'Maybe we can let it go to our heads a bit this time?' 'Well, you like some attention of course, but we also remember where we came from,' Babydaddy deadpans. 'It's an important part of who we are. From dive bars to Glastonbury and beyond – it's quite the odyssey.' Scissor Sisters' UK tour starts at Nottingham Motorpoint Arena on May 16. They play Glastonbury on Saturday June 28
