Love (and blood and sweat and tears and guts and muscles) is in the air in A24's latest erotic thriller Love Lies Bleeding.
Directed and co-written by Rose Glass and starring Oscar nominee Kristen Stewart (Spencer) and Katy O'Brian (The Mandalorian), the film is a wild, surreal, and queer as hell tale of a New Mexico gym manager named Lou (Stewart) who falls in love with mysterious and sexy bodybuilder Jackie (O'Brian) during the height of the fitness craze in the '80s.
Though Love Lies Bleeding does contain intimate and touching moments between Lou and Jackie, utter chaos is ignited when they get caught up with the turbulent family drama involving Lou's sister Beth (Jenna Malone), Beth's abusive husband JJ (Dave Franco), and the shady, corrupt patriarch/crime boss Lou Sr. (Ed Harris).
Out caught up with Stewart and O'Brian at the red-carpet premiere of the film in Los Angeles on Tuesday night, and the two talked about what it was like bringing these loveable but toxic and messy queer characters to life.
"Gay people do a lot of stuff," Stewart tells Out. "They don't just come out. They don't just slowly glance, lingering, finger-brush each other. This movie was fun to do because I felt like we were all on a playground and allowed to be the kids that we were born as and then also as adults could play with. It was a nice return to form."
"People are talking about it being a 'sexual thriller.' There isn't even that much sex in it. It's so funny, because it's more about the stories we tell each other and the believing in each other that we do and that sort of immediate, unexplained connection that is purely physical. That is so gay. To not have to bond over trauma or do any of the things that make everyone feel good about making queer movies, it just feels like it came from a place of pure selfish desire, and that is f*cking fun."
"Everybody's a little messy inside," O'Brian says. "I think that [Love Lies Bleeding] accurately reflects everyone's deep inner turmoil and messiness."
Elsewhere in the interview, the two stars also talk being the heartthrobs of Lesbian Twitter and the questions they'd be happy never to have to hear again while doing a press tour.
Watch Out's interviews with Kristen and Katy in the video above. Love Lies Bleeding hits theaters on March 8.
