François Arnaud starred in the first two episodes of Heated Rivalry as Scott Hunter — who, despite being the protagonist of book 1, Game Changer, in the series of novels written by Rachel Reid, is mostly a supporting character in the Crave original TV show streaming on HBO Max. Under showrunner Jacob Tierney, the main focus of Heated Rivalry is on the love story between Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie)... except for the third episode, titled "Hunter," that takes a detour to explore Scott's love story with Kip Grady (Robbie G.K.).
Episode 3 is not only a tribute to the book that started this entire saga about pro hockey players who must live closeted personal lives, but also serves as a cautionary tale illustrating how hard it can be for athletes to come out of the closet under these circumstances.
In an interview with Out, Arnaud opens up about his first impressions of the Heated Rivalry show after reading the initial scripts, explains why discussing his bisexuality can welcome conversations about a personal life he'd rather keep private, and praises not only the performances of his costars Williams, Storrie, and G.K, but also the writing and directing of Tierney, who he's now known as a friend and industry peer for nearly two decades.
Trust us: This isn't an interview to skip. Pun intended!
François Arnaud as Scott Hunter and Robbie G.K. as Kip Grady on Heated Rivalry.HBO Max/Crave Canada
Out: Fans have been obsessed with the first two episodes of Heated Rivalry, and it's excited to see them now watching your episode. When did you first get attached to the series?
François Arnaud: Not very long before the starting date, actually. Maybe like a month or so, or like six weeks before. Jacob [Tierney], we've been friends for like 17 years now. I've admired his work since The Trotsky, which I saw in theaters when I was 17. And then he had directed two episodes of a show that I was on, called The Moodys, and we've just been in touch.
So he reached out and said, "We sent this to your agent last night; there's six episodes. Do you want to just read them all?" He didn't say, "I wrote this for you," but he did say, "I wrote this and I can't hear anybody else do it. I keep hearing your voice." I read it that day. The first episode, I was like, "What the fuck?" [Laughs.]
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It was enjoyable, but I was like, "I don't know where this is going. I don't know if this is for me." And then, not only because of Scott's bottle episode, but I also knew I could trust Jacob to turn it on its head, and use "smut" as like a hook. Not that there's anything wrong with smut or these horny hockey players, but there is definitely something more to it. The layers just peel away, and it becomes more humanly impressive, and majestic, than I think people were expecting.
The books do a good job at that, and the show certainly elevates it even further. Episode 3 really goes to show that this is what actual hockey players, or athletes in general, go through. Some people can lose everything if they come out, and that is Scott Hunter's entire story. He doesn't get a happy ending in this episode. So we watch the yearning, the banter, the flirting, the falling in love, and then how it all comes to an end. What was it like to portray that spectrum of emotions and so many phases in a relationship, in just one episode?
The way I saw it, it's just like a tonal shift from the other two episodes, and there was something a bit scary about that. You know… I hope people are along for the ride, because it's a bit different. For me, it's more like a sad Notting Hill story.
François Arnaud as Scott Hunter on Heated Rivalry.HBO Max/Crave Canada
A sad Notting Hill sounds so funny.
There's something very bittersweet about it, and moments that are clearly rom-com-coded. Like the flirtation [between Scott and Kip] at first, it's not like this macho, locker room, pent-up horny thing that we've seen in the first two episodes.
What appealed to me about Scott — which is what I discussed with Jacob — is that he's tired. He gave his whole life to hockey, and hockey gave him back so much. But he's not necessarily ready, socially, to embrace his true self… As in, you know, willing to give up everything that he invested in hockey. He is emotionally available, and that's something we kept saying. He's just like not [ready to fully come out].
And that's why, you know, at first, it was like, "Why Kip? Why this guy? Has he had sex before?" But there was something that he says: He's never brought anyone back home. Jacob and I had a whole backstory for Scott in terms of how he dealt with his sexuality, but it doesn't really matter in the window of this episode. There's just something that happens when this guy shows up in his life at a moment when he's ready; he's exhausted of pretending and ready for joy. Or he thinks he is.
That's how I felt, too. That he initially thought he was ready. But then…
Well, I do think he is. It's just that it comes with a boatload of other things that he's not really willing to surmount.
François Arnaud as Scott Hunter on Heated Rivalry.HBO Max/Crave Canada
Episode 3 flash-forwards to Scott Hunter at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics. It's interesting to see the show's real-world parallels given that anti-LGBTQ+ laws in Russia did encourage athletes to come out after competing in those Winter Olympics. Adam Rippon and Gus Kenworthy made waves with their own stories. Of course, this is a parallel world, but it's interesting to think about it.
I think that's all like incredibly important, but sports teams are a bit different than individual sports, and especially for the captain of a team. And Scott is that. There's this kind of pressure that isn't invisible, you know? Like, these people spent decades hearing so much stuff in locker rooms.
Even though, I think that we're elsewhere, societally. People can surprise us. I've known people who were incredibly, vocally homophobic when I was in high school, and who I saw later in life, and did sort of, like, a mea culpa. They owned up to it, and understood the power of that language, the power of those jokes. The word "gay" was used all the time to not even mean gay, but to just mean "weak" and "bad."
Yup. "That's so gay" meant that something was terrible.
And it's also misogyny. I think, ultimately, it's rooted in misogyny. I think homophobia and misogyny are incredibly close.
François Arnaud as Scott Hunter on Heated Rivalry.HBO Max/Crave Canada
Incredibly close. I was thinking since you are… We have these two leads — and I don't care to discuss anyone's sexuality — but you are an out bisexual person.
François Arnaud: Oh, yeah. I, I have thoughts about that. Because I know like—
Oh? Do you have any updates? Yeah, go ahead.
I don't care to discuss anybody else's sexuality. For me, even, you know, it's not something I'm particularly interested in discussing about myself, either. At one point in my life, I felt like in order to not disclose that, I had to actively lie, or hide. And that's not what I want to do because I'm not actually, like, I don't think it's something shameful at all. And I didn't think that then, so I was like, "I want my life to reflect this lack of shame. I want my public life to…" You know, I love movies, I've given my whole life to it, but I love feeling like my life is my own even more. And that's ultimately not something I'm willing to compromise on. Even though, yeah, something's a bit scary about that.
What I don't like, and what I feared when talking about this, was that it would… It might give people the idea that I'm inviting this conversation about my private life, which I'm not. I don't really want — and I think, you know, everybody does it in their own time, and I completely agree with what Jacob [Tierney] said [in an interview with Xtra]. I think it's — certainly in Canada, I don't know about the U.S. — it's illegal in Canada to ask people in a casting room, or when they are applying for a job, what their sexuality is. And I think that's just common sense.
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Then again, you know, representation does matter, and it's important that people who are part of minorities to see themselves in the public eye. People [who] they can look up to, and who are successful. But I think the goal, ultimately, of that, is that actors who are not hiding that part of themselves are not discriminated against. They don't have to be.
I don't think gay people… Ultimately, I don't think gay people should play just gay — or gay characters should be played by gay people, straight characters should be played by straight people. Like, that's not what it is. We have to get to a place where it doesn't matter. And I think it is happening. There are like out gay actors who are getting great heterosexual parts. Like it was, always, you know? You're an actor, you want to transform, you want to diversify. And I think I've made it a point to do that myself, and I still do.
Robbie G.K. as Kip Grady and François Arnaud as Scott Hunter on Heated Rivalry.HBO Max/Crave Canada
I was about to say: You've done it. Jonathan Bailey's doing it right now.
Yeah, Bailey is doing it. Jonathan Bailey, I mean, what a journey. And he's completely, you know, he's more comfortable than most… like, talking about it all the time. And it doesn't seem to have hindered his career, and that's amazing. Now, I don't… I think it's very dangerous, especially when people are first coming on to the scene, like what happened to that kid, Kit Connor, you know?
100 percent.
I think it's really fucking shameful to be forced to do this out of… Before you're ready, under pressure. I think everybody's proud to be a part of this show, proud to be telling these stories. And, you know, I think it'll do. Hopefully hockey bros start watching. Let's see.
Yeah. I brought up that topic to contrast how the relationship between Ilya and Shane is, to varying degrees, similar: They're both in the closet. In this storyline, however, Scott is deep inside a walk-in closet, and his love interest is completely out. They are, in many ways, complete opposites.
Yeah, completely different. He sees someone else going back in the closet.
François Arnaud as Scott Hunter and Robbie G.K. as Kip Grady on Heated Rivalry.HBO Max/Crave Canada
For Scott and Kip, they can't even be seen together, but Scott also interacts with Shane and Ilya on the show. What was it like playing those dynamics with your costars and just bouncing off each other?
Well, I love so many actors on this show. Hudson has like an emotional depth and interiority that I love. Connor is fearless, and amazing, and inspiring. Robbie is so gifted at playing these rom-com beats, but grounding them. And all of these quips, and lines, and witty moments, he just makes it sound like they're… like, I forget the page, you know? So it's still playing with those tropes, but in a completely natural, integrated way.
And just to say one more thing about the relationship between Scott with Shane and Ilya, is that Scott's story can serve, eventually, maybe, as an inspiration for those two. But also, particularly in this episode, as a cautionary tale. If 10 years later, you're still hiding, this is the toll it takes, you know? This is the emotional weight.
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It's like... it's not the same. It's kind of cute when you're younger. I think they start at 20 and it goes from them being 20 to 25 in the show, or 27. But Scott is like well into his 30s, so it's very different, and there's something sad about it, you know? He's had to put a whole part of his life, like fulfillment, and joy, aside. And that's really moving to me.
That last scene, Scott looking at Kip's birthday party from outside. I was like, "Ugh, that sucks." It was really sad. One thing that's been hilarious, and I hope you've seen these, are the memes with Scott clocking Shane and Ilya. The looks he gives, they just read like, "I think you're gay." The internet is having a blast.
But it's so weird because I didn't plan for that. [Laughs.] Like I didn't really play that.
Wait... What?!
I actually did not hear, on that day, the room number that [Ilya] tells [Shane]. Like, I actually couldn't hear it.
So the fans who have been sharing these memes around… They're technically wrong?
I think it's just like a feeling. It's like a gut feeling that he has. And I think there's some sort of like curiosity. It's not attraction — it doesn't have anything to do with that.
Oh, yeah, that much is very clear. It's not flirtatious at all.
It's sort of, I don't know, like…
"I see what's going on here."
Yeah, maybe. But I'm actually not making those calls. [Laughs.] And also, even Scott subscribes to this kind of like "straight hockey bro humor" where you're like, "Oh, is he your buddy…? Oh, you two seem close." But it's the kind of thing that players would say to one another even if they weren't gay.
Heated Rivalry is streaming on HBO Max.
