Holding the Man star Ryan Corr reveals why sex scenes — gay or straight — are anything but sexy

AUSTRALIAN actor Ryan Corr went undercover to research his role as a young gay man in a new film and discovered that homophobia is alive and well.

PERFORMING an intimate scene on screen is always awkward, says Ryan Corr. The character’s sexual orientation is pretty much irrelevant.

“There is a boom hanging over your head, there are 30 people in the room making sure your left testicle doesn’t drop out of your cock sock,” Corr said.

“It’s one of the most anti-intimate environments you could think of.”

Ryan Corr, who plays Timothy Conigrave, and Craig Stott, as his partner John Caleo, in a scene from Holding the Man.

According to Corr, the gender of one’s co-star is far less important than the fact that you are getting up close and personal with someone you barely know.

The 26-year-old star of feature films such as Wolf Creek 2 and The Water Diviner and TV series Love Child and Packed To the Rafters knew exactly how to play the love scenes between writer/actor/gay rights activist Tim Conigrave and his lifelong partner John Caleo in Holding the Man, the film version of Conigrave’s influential 1995 memoir.

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“Everyone has that first love — whether it be the boy with the beautiful eyelashes (as in Conigrave’s case) or Beccy in Grade 3. We have all gone through that angst and the ‘how to get them’ and the love letters in class. That’s universally relatable,’’ says Corr.

He and co-star Craig Stott, who plays Caleo, did, however, feel the need to test drive their relationship in the real world.

“I have a lot of gay friends, my sister is gay, so I knew about many of the pressures they experienced coming up, but not first hand,’’ says Corr.

“Experiencing that in everyday life was a big part of the rehearsal process for me.

“Craig and I would order a coffee together. When it came back, we would hold hands as we were paying for it.

“The shift in people’s attitudes is very slight but it’s there. And that change in dynamic — it’s usually subtle because nobody wants to admit they are homophobic — made me feel anxious and uncomfortable.”

Ryan Corr’s character Timothy Conigrave fell in love with the boy with beautiful eyelashes — Craig Stott, who plays John Caleo in a scene from new movie Holding The Man

Corr hopes the film will go some way in rectifying what he sees as Australia’s “backwardness” in such areas — and particularly on the issue of gay marriage.

But him, playing a 17-year-old, was more of a stretch.

The filmmakers chose not to cast younger actors in the pivotal scenes in which Conigrave and Caleo, both students at Melbourne’s Xavier College, fall in love because they felt the transition might be jarring.

Corr says that for him, hair and make-up was a crucial part of his process of dropping a decade, although the school uniform certainly helped.

“That will make anyone feel 17.

“The film wasn’t shot chronologically. Some days we’d be playing 17-year-olds in the morning, 24-year-olds after lunch and 30 in the afternoon.

“Often we would know what era we were playing by the wig we put on. There was A Flock Of Seagulls for the ‘80s and a long, curled perm down to my shoulders for the ‘70s.”

Getting the story right, says Corr, was his biggest concern.

“It’s always been much more about the story than it is about us or our performances or our journey through it.

“I was playing someone who was real, someone’s son, someone’s brother, someone’s lover.

“I have never worked harder in getting a film right.”

Strong reviews notwithstanding, a thumbs-up from the Conigrave family, who have given theatre director Neil Armfield’s film their blessing, has been the ultimate compliment.

“That’s enough for me,’’ Corr says.

Ryan Corr and Craig Stott aged up and down but knew what era they were in from the wigs they were wearing.

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Originally published as Holding the Man star Ryan Corr reveals why sex scenes — gay or straight — are anything but sexy