Russell Tovey and Tom Blyth are spilling the details behind their new, steamy romantic drama, Plainclothes.
Plainclothes stars Blyth as Lucas, a handsome, young police officer who is tasked with going undercover at local cruising spots to arrest men who attempt to have sex with him. The problem is that Lucas is himself gay and closeted, and finds himself falling for one of the men he was supposed to target.
That man is Andrew, a man old enough to be Lucas's dad, played by Looking star Russell Tovey. The role has allowed Tovey to embrace his aging in a new way, he tells Out.
"Yeah, I embrace Daddy," Tovey says. "I mean, Pedro Pascal says, 'Daddy is a state of mind,' but also I think realistically, I'm a dad age, so state of mind and state of play.
"I've been doing this [acting] for years. I think we sort of transition into all these other roles, and now I’ve got children — on-screen children, not off-screen, [that] I know of," he laughs.
It's one of Tovey's most powerful performances of his career. Filmmaker Carmen Emmi says that while writing the role of Andrew, he "was always subconsciously" writing it for Tovey. When Blyth joined the film and suggested Tovey for the role, Emmi knew it was "one of those universe moments" when everything fell into place.
In the interview, Blyth reveals that he had a "massive talent crush" on Tovey before they worked together, which made playing his lover a lot easier.
"I'd had a massive talent crush on Russell for years, and that was part of why, when Carmen said, 'Who do you imagine playing Andrew?' And I was like, 'Russell Tovey,'' he says. "I met Russell, [and] I just converted it into an on-screen real crush, I think."
Plainclothes opens in theaters on September 19. Read our review here. Watch the official trailer below
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