Jan 23
More Hotties from Upcoming Queer Films
Frank J. Avella READ TIME: 19 MIN.
Ben Whishaw in 'Peter Hujar's Day'
Filmmaker Ira Sachs has created numerous queer-inspired narrative features including "Passages," "Keep the Lights On," and "Love is Strange." In his latest work, "Peter Hujar's Day," he re-creates a day in the life of the titular American photographer, who died of AIDS in 1987. The filmmaker has taken a recently-discovered 1974 conversation between Hujar and his friend Linda Rosenkrantz, and crafted an original cinematic portrait. Ben Whishaw is Hujar, and Rebecca Hall is Rosenkrantz.
Whishaw is another out English actor who manages to seamlessly switch from stage to screen to TV roles, appearing in many LGBTQ+-themed projects in the process and picking up 3 BAFTAs, two Emmys, and a Golden Globe.
His career began onstage when he was part of the Big Spirit Youth Theatre. He went on to major West End credits, including the eponymous "Hamlet" (2004) at the Old Vic, Mike Bartlett's "Cock" (2009) at the Royal Court, Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" (2016) on Broadway at the Walter Kerr, and, last year, in Beckett's "Waiting for Godot" at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.
His TV credits include "The Hour," "London Spy," "Queers," "A Very English Scandal," "This is Going to Hurt," and Netflix's "Black Doves," opposite Keira Knightley. His many films include "Layer Cake" (2004), "Stoned" (2004), "I'm Not There" (2007), "Brideshead Revisited" (2008), "The Tempest"(2010), "Skyfall" (2012), "Lilting" (2014), "The Lobster" (2015), "The Danish Girl" (2014), "Mary Poppins Returns" (2018), "Surge" (2020), "Women Talking" (2022), and "Passages" (2023), where he appeared in one of the most explicit gay sex scenes ever filmed for an indie, opposite Franz Rogowski and directed by Sachs.
Whishaw is never one to shy away from nudity or intimate same-sex scenes, as is apparent in many of his film and TV projects – check out "Black Doves" and "Passages" as stimulating starters!
"Peter Hujar's Day" world premieres on January 27, 2025, at the Sundance Film Festival.
