Hoffman and Wilde star as a fresh college grad and an enigmatic artist who start up an NSFW relationship in Gregg Araki’s new dramedy
Credit: Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures
NEED TO KNOW
- Cooper Hoffman says his mom, Mimi O’Donnell, loved his new movie, I Want Your Sex, but had to look away during some scenes
- Hoffman admits he’s nervous about his younger sisters seeing the film and has no plans to show it to them
- I Want Your Sex is now playing in theaters
Cooper Hoffman is proud of his new movie, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t cringing at the thought of his mom and sisters seeing him being kinky in it.
The Long Walk actor, 23, stars opposite Olivia Wilde in Gregg Araki’s I Want Your Sex as Elliott, a fresh college grad who’s just looking for a job when he is hired by the enigmatic and sex-obsessed Erika (Wilde), who is pleased with Elliott’s quick acquiescence to her every dominating desire. Soon, a sizzling BDSM relationship between the two unfolds that sees Elliott blindfolded, spanked and crawling on his hands and knees just as Erika wants him.
And his mom, costume designer and theater director Mimi O’Donnell, watched all that too.
Credit: Bruce Glikas/Getty
“She loved it. She was like, ‘I had to look away and cover my ears for some of it,’ and I was like, ‘Totally fine,’ ” Hoffman tells PEOPLE in a recent interview. “But she was like, ‘I really loved it.’ But my mom also grew up in theater, and she’s just an artist at heart. She knows the game.”
The thought of his younger teen sisters, Tallulah and Willa, whom his mom welcomed with late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman in 2006 and 2008, respectively, watching the movie makes Hoffman even more uncomfortable — and he has no plans to actively sit them down for it.
“By the way, when I say ‘show them,’ I’m not showing them. I’m not like, ‘Gotta get you to watch this,’ ” Hoffman says, continuing joking, “‘You’re not gonna wanna get up. You’re gonna wanna sit down, I brought popcorn. Turn your phones off.’ I’m nervous for them to see any sort of, even some of the press that’s coming out right now, it’s all clips of me talking about sex.”
Credit: Magnolia Pictures
“My sisters keep calling me, and they’re like, ‘I really can’t believe you did this movie.’ I was like, ‘I know. I’m so sorry,’ ” Hoffman added.
Beyond his immediate family, Hoffman says he’s been getting some ribbing from his “high school buddies too,” which Chase Sui Wonders, who stars as Elliott’s roommate Apple, could relate to.
“All my high school buddies are already sending me screenshots, being like, ‘Dude…’ ” the actor says as Wonders, 30, agrees, noting that the trailer for the new movie is playing ahead of Wilde’s earlier entry this summer, The Invite, leading audience-goers for that film to text her about the “interesting movie” she’s now in.
Credit: Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures
The actress added that she’s even had former middle school teachers messaging her on Instagram asking about the project. “Like Chase, Chase, Chase, didn’t realize your career hit this point?” Hoffman joked.
Ultimately, the stars joke they’re just nervous for “everyone” to see the movie, which also features Charli xcx, Daveed Diggs and Mason Gooding. Still, they’re proud of the final product.
“The nice thing about working with talented actors is you’re not having to overcompensate in any way,” Hoffman says of filming difficult intimate scenes. “All I had to do is act with Chase. And if you give over to that, then it’s all going to work itself out.”
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I Want Your Sex is in theaters now.
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