After winning acclaim for portraying gay men grappling with internal conflict in “Looking” and “American Horror Story,” Russell Tovey is turning in a big screen performance in a film that, by all accounts, has become a passion project.
The British actor stars opposite Tom Blyth in “Plainclothes,” a dramatic thriller written and directed by Carmen Emmi. The movie, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January and expands to theaters nationwide this month after September screenings in New York and Los Angeles, follows Lucas (played by Blyth), a police officer in Syracuse, New York, circa 1997, who leads an undercover sting operation at a local shopping mall.
Lucas is tasked with apprehending gay men who are cruising for sex in the mall’s restrooms and charging them with indecent exposure. Unbeknownst to his colleagues and family, however, he’s also struggling to come to terms with his own queer sexuality.
He soon becomes infatuated by Andrew (Tovey), one of his targets and a seemingly self-assured gay man who, as it turns out, is harboring some secrets of his own.
Emmi wrote “Plainclothes” with Tovey in mind, having been a fan of the actor’s smoldering portrayal of video game guru Kevin in “Looking.” Tovey says he was instantly captivated by Emmi’s script, describing Andrew as a “flawed, fascinating character who is kind and loving,” but also “very, very damaged.”
