Screen legends Colin Firth and Stanely Tucci joined their combined star power in Supernova, writer and director Harry Macqueen's latest queer romantic drama that will leave your heart wrenched and your tears overflowing.
Telling the story of concert pianist Sam (Firth) and his longtime partner and novelist Tusker (Tucci), who is struggling through the early stages of dementia, the film is a devastatingly beautiful tale that proves that love really is the only thing worth living, and fighting, for.
PRIDE got to sit down with Supernova's two leading men to talk more about what drew them to the project, the continued evolution of gay representation in mainstream cinema, and the honor and privilege they get from playing roles that mean so much to the LGBTQ+ community.
"Obviously there have been changes since I started out in this profession in the early eighties, but it's still ongoing. I still think we have to keep our ears open to how people in the LGBTQ+ community feel about their representation, and how they want to be represented," Colin, who was nominated for an Oscar in 2010 for his performance in Tom Ford's film adaptation of queer literary icon Christopher Isherwood's A Single Man told PRIDE about how seriously he takes the gay roles he's played throughout his career. "It's our responsibility to be sensitive to whether there are times we should step out of it. You know? Whether there are times where we feel that there's something we really can offer, whether we're gay or straight. I'm hypersensitive to it, to the point where every time I take on a role, I always feel I don't really have the right. I'm trying to take a step into someone else's experience. I always feel what the hell do I know? Who do you think you are? That's where the challenge lies. I just hope that if I put enough thought into it, and enough empathy, and I'm brave enough, and those are things I don't always live up to, but if I keep that pursuit going that maybe I'll find something that resonates with the people whose lives I might be representing."
"Any role you do, you just want to do it well. You want to be truthful, and you don't ever want it to be a sort of send-up or a mockery or anything like that," Tucci added, about the progress that has been made when it comes to LGBTQ+ representation and how flattering he finds it that some people in the community say he and Colin are some of the only straight actors allowed to take on queer roles. "I think the thing that attracted me to the film was the beautiful script, and Harry's realization on paper of a beautiful, loving relationship. Now, the story could have been told with a heterosexual relationship, but what I loved about this was that sexuality was of no consequence. There was only love that was of consequence, and that is profound. Then loss is of consequence. And what I think the movie shows is that it makes great strides in the way that everybody thinks about love, which is it's just love, it doesn't matter who it is, who it's between. Gay, straight, whatever. Our sorrows are the same, and our pain is the same as well. So, in this tiny little film, I think Harry sends a pretty big message."
Supernova is in theaters now and will be available on digital platforms starting February 16.
