{"id":29964,"date":"2026-08-06T15:29:28","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T10:29:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=29964"},"modified":"2026-08-06T15:29:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T10:29:28","slug":"i-want-your-sex-director-gregg-araki-doesnt-think-youre-doing-it-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=29964","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;I Want Your Sex&#8217; Director Gregg Araki Doesn\u2019t Think You\u2019re Doing It Enough"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paywall\">It\u2019s an LA-set broad comedy starring <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/topic\/olivia-wilde\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"text link\">Olivia Wilde<\/a> as Erika, an art star whose work explores sex, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/hollywood\/2020\/09\/philip-seymour-hoffman-son-cooper-paul-thomas-anderson-movie?srsltid=AfmBOorU6ro7qK8f6iuIYu0KQu34VXKU2SsL6gJ6szzWbfc82Xm3UnRA\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"text link\">Cooper Hoffman<\/a> as Elliot, a 20-something studio assistant who becomes her subordinate in every sense of the word. Chase Sui Wonders, Mason Gooding, Johnny Knoxville, and Margaret Cho round out the cast, as does <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/hollywood\/story\/charli-xcx-interview\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"text link\">Charli xcx<\/a>, who\u2019s such a well-known Araki fan that when the director noticed that \u201cthe <em>Brat<\/em> graphic was inspired by [my film] <em>Smiley Face,<\/em> like it\u2019s the same font,\u201d he cast her to play Hoffman\u2019s stressed-out med-student girlfriend in this project.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">His films range from wacky apocalypse melodramas to stoner comedies, but they share an almost painterly visual design, bold costumes, and an embedded critique (and celebration) of sexual culture. The music is always pulled from what he\u2019s listening to, often shoegaze bands of the \u201990s. And then there\u2019s his history of brilliant and unexpected casting, allowing young actors to prove their cool credibility, including Rose McGowan, Parker Posey, Shailene Woodley, Anna Faris, Adam Brody, John Krasinski, Heather Graham, Juno Temple, Denise Richards, Ryan Phillippe, Mena Suvari, and Guillermo Diaz. He cast a young Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Brady Corbet (then a teen actor, now the director of <em>The Brutalist;<\/em> Araki calls him \u201ca prodigy\u201d) in 2004\u2019s <em><a data-offer-url=\"https:\/\/www.sundance.org\/blogs\/gregg-arakis-mysterious-skin-is-still-a-staggering-and-devastating-triumph\/\" class=\"external-link text link\" data-event-click=\"{&quot;element&quot;:&quot;ExternalLink&quot;,&quot;outgoingURL&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.sundance.org\/blogs\/gregg-arakis-mysterious-skin-is-still-a-staggering-and-devastating-triumph\/&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sundance.org\/blogs\/gregg-arakis-mysterious-skin-is-still-a-staggering-and-devastating-triumph\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Mysterious Skin<\/a>,<\/em> a highly acclaimed, very-difficult-to-watch film about sexual abuse. Its 4K restoration hits theaters on August 14. Up-and-coming actors are so eager to do a turn in an Araki movie that he takes a lot of general meetings, with recent ones including <em>Heated Rivalry<\/em> stars Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie. (Araki is a big fan of the series.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">\u201cI was born at the exact right moment\u2014[in] \u201959\u2014so I am actually like [a] borderline boomer or Gen X. I was 19, 20, 21 right when punk rock music, new-wave music, Talking Heads, X, that whole scene [came around],\u201d Araki says. Perhaps his greatest strength as a filmmaker is his enduring ability to tap into youth, even when the age gap between himself and people in their 20s is now some four decades. It was this awareness of his Gen Z audience that made Araki increasingly think about the world\u2019s changing sexual mores, so much so that he swapped the genders of the characters at the heart of his film\u2014which began as a screenplay written by Araki and <a data-offer-url=\"https:\/\/karleysciortino.substack.com\/\" class=\"external-link text link\" data-event-click=\"{&quot;element&quot;:&quot;ExternalLink&quot;,&quot;outgoingURL&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/karleysciortino.substack.com\/&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/karleysciortino.substack.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Karley Sciortino<\/a>, a former <em>Vogue<\/em> sex columnist, that featured a female intern and a male boss. \u201cA version of that was going to happen\u2026and literally fell apart, like indie movies do,\u201d he says of the film, which took about 10 years to make. \u201cAnd then after MeToo, I was like, I kind of don\u2019t want to have a male dragging a female around by the hair, even in a consensual situation.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"AssetEmbedWrapper-iJvQnD cOWUYC asset-embed\">\n<div class=\"AssetEmbedAssetContainer-fnduJP iaVSwI asset-embed__asset-container\"><span class=\"SpanWrapper-kFnjvc eKnjjD responsive-asset AssetEmbedResponsiveAsset-gaAbQ hXaxHA asset-embed__responsive-asset\"><picture class=\"ResponsiveImagePicture-jKunQM gjCCFj AssetEmbedResponsiveAsset-gaAbQ hXaxHA asset-embed__responsive-asset responsive-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Image may contain Head Person Face Happy Smile Teen Sad Accessories Jewelry and Necklace\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"ResponsiveImageContainer-dkeESL cQPiWi responsive-image__image\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a7372c7fac721779e02aead\/master\/w_120,c_limit\/MCDIIWA_GI018.jpg 120w, https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a7372c7fac721779e02aead\/master\/w_240,c_limit\/MCDIIWA_GI018.jpg 240w, https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a7372c7fac721779e02aead\/master\/w_320,c_limit\/MCDIIWA_GI018.jpg 320w, https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a7372c7fac721779e02aead\/master\/w_640,c_limit\/MCDIIWA_GI018.jpg 640w, https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a7372c7fac721779e02aead\/master\/w_768,c_limit\/MCDIIWA_GI018.jpg 768w, https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a7372c7fac721779e02aead\/master\/w_960,c_limit\/MCDIIWA_GI018.jpg 960w, https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a7372c7fac721779e02aead\/master\/w_1280,c_limit\/MCDIIWA_GI018.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a7372c7fac721779e02aead\/master\/w_1600,c_limit\/MCDIIWA_GI018.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"100vw\" src=\"https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a7372c7fac721779e02aead\/master\/w_1600%2Cc_limit\/MCDIIWA_GI018.jpg\"\/><\/picture><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"CaptionWrapper-bpPcvW kzGGxb caption AssetEmbedCaption-eZIMNW gMgneI asset-embed__caption\" data-testid=\"caption-wrapper\"><span class=\"BaseText-fEwdHD CaptionText-cQpRdU klhnDX hbiMYj caption__text\"><\/p>\n<p>Chase Sui Wonders as Apple in <em>I Want Your Sex<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><\/span><span class=\"BaseText-fEwdHD CaptionCredit-cUgOGk gsdIcD hRFzlA caption__credit\">Magnolia Pictures\/Everett Collection<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s an LA-set broad comedy starring Olivia Wilde as Erika, an art star whose work explores sex, and Cooper Hoffman as Elliot, a 20-something studio assistant who becomes her subordinate in every sense of the word. Chase Sui Wonders, Mason Gooding, Johnny Knoxville, and Margaret Cho round out the cast, as does Charli xcx, who\u2019s&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29965,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a729f7495ef2a17981e3700\/16:9\/w_1280,c_limit\/VF_GreggAraki-6.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity-gossip"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}