Rami Malek, “The Man I Love”
Award-winning director Ira Sachs recently sat down with Variety to discuss his latest feature, The Man I Love, which debuted to an eight-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival.
Set during the late-1980s AIDS crisis in New York City, the film follows an actor (played by Rami Malek) determined to mount an Off-Off-Broadway theater production while facing his own mortality.
Sachs views telling this story in the current risk-averse, politically conservative climate as a vital act of historical preservation, ensuring the complex legacies of gay men are neither erased nor sanitized.
The film’s high-profile cast, which also features Tom Sturridge and Luther Ford in a complex queer love triangle, inevitably touches upon the ongoing industry debate regarding straight actors portraying gay characters.
When pressed on his casting philosophy, Sachs offered a direct, craft-first perspective: “I don’t ask people who they’ve slept with.”
For Sachs, a director’s primary responsibility is evaluating an actor’s emotional depth, vulnerability, and commitment to the text rather than policing their private lives. By prioritizing the truth of the performance over personal disclosure, he aims to foster a deeply empathetic, collaborative environment where the art remains the ultimate focus.
Because the film is actively being sold to distributors following its Cannes debut, a wide theatrical release date has not yet been officially announced.
