The gay-themed film “1985” takes place a year before its star, Cory Michael Smith, was even born, but it still packs an emotional punch for him.
“The story really destroyed me a few times,” says Smith, who plays a closeted New York advertising executive, Adrian, who returns to his Texas home for Christmas with his conservative Christian parents, Dale and Eileen (played by Michael Chiklis and Virginia Madsen), and his younger brother, Andrew (Aidan Langford).
Suffering in silence creates tension throughout the movie, which takes place toward the start of the AIDS crisis. Adrian is haunted by the recent death of his boyfriend, Leo, to the disease, but he can’t bring himself to share his devastation or even come out to his parents, who tend to keep problems under wraps.
Smith says one heartbreaking, tear-filled scene was particularly difficult to shoot. Adrian tells a childhood friend (played by Jamie Chung) that he contacted Leo’s parents — but they didn’t want anything to do with their dead son.
“I just genuinely don’t understand not wanting to see or be a part of a child’s death or funeral,” he says of the scenario, which was not uncommon in the 1980s. “I couldn’t possibly say that line without kind of losing it and getting pretty emotional.”
The movie — filmed in black and white, and written and directed by Yen Tan — is Wednesday’s opening-night feature at NewFest, the annual LGBTQ film festival, now in its 30th year. It also opens theatrically Friday at Greenwich Village’s Quad Cinema (34 W. 13th St.; QuadCinema.com) and in Los Angeles.
“It was important to me to bring light to the pain and suffering of someone who feels like they have to hide, whether that be their sexuality or HIV status,” says Smith, best known for playing Edward Nygma, a k a the Riddler, on the Fox drama “Gotham.”
Smith diverges from Adrian concerning his own sexuality. A Daily Beast interview in March mentioned that he identifies as “queer” — and Smith was surprised when numerous other sites took note and framed that as a big reveal.
“It wasn’t a coming-out article,” he says, adding that he previously opened up about it when he did the gay-themed off-Broadway play “Cock” in 2012. “They were just interested in saying that this had happened, without any sort of relevance to my experience or when I actually came out.
“I’m 31 and spent half of my life living very openly and honestly,” he says.
Like many millennials, Smith says he doesn’t view sexuality on a gay-straight binary. When he clued in his parents, the actor even avoided labeling himself.
“I didn’t describe my sexuality. I just told them I was dating a guy,” says the Ohio native. “I asked if they wanted to meet him, the same way I said about the girl before him, ‘Do you want to meet her?’ ”
By the way, they did.
“They were wonderful,” says Smith. “Kudos to my parents.”
“1985” screens at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the SVA Theatre, 333 W. 23rd St., and features a Q&A with Tan, Smith, Chiklis and Madsen. Tickets are $60 and include a post-screening party at the Plunge rooftop lounge at Gansevoort Meatpacking. NewFest continues through Oct. 30; NewFest.org.
Source: Read Full Article