“The Man I Love,” Ira Sachs 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.
For all the critical acclaim being thrown the way of lead star Rami Malek, playing an amateur theater performer battling AIDS (Variety‘s review described it as his “best role since ‘Bohemian Rhapsody'”), there’s been a great deal of love for Tom Sturridge‘s 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.
For Sturridge, last on the Cannes red carpet for “Irma Veep” in 2022 and prior to that “On the Road” in the 2012, the experience of working with Sachs was unlike any other film he’s made — no rehearsals and no discussion about the lines or scenes before they’re shot. As he notes, it’s was a “profound leap of faith” by the director, but one where everything can be discovered on camera. “He allows things to sit and breathe,” he says. “And he trusts that you are enough. You don’t have to present. He will find.”
Speaking to Variety the morning after the premiere, Sturridge discusses what Sachs made him watch to understand both the history of the era in “The Man I Love” 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’s joining the cast of Mia Hansen-Løve’s next project, the biopic of 18th century British writer and philosopher Mary Wollstonecroft, starring Renate Reinsve.
