Firebird star Tom Prior recites a sensual passage from the book that inspired the gay romantic film
Speaking of Pride, empowered by Bentley is part of the Attitude Pride at Home digital festival taking place online from 9-19 June.
Words: Brian Leonard; pictures: Pip
Firebird‘s Tom Prior has got us in a fluster as he talks about falling in love.
The actor, 31, reads an enchanting excerpt from the real-life story that inspired the Cold War set gay romance film, Firebird as part of Attitude’s Speaking of Pride series, empowered by Bentley.
“I actually chose this because there’s something so amazing for me about the first time you get that magnetic moment with somebody and you kind of get lost almost outside of the space and time, lost in somebody’s eyes or lost in, you know, the aura of them,” Tom explains of his chosen excerpt from A Tale about Roman.
He continues: “And I think that this just does such a brilliant job of addressing that moment where time stops and you just are in that moment of love and the struggle actually as well of what that can be like if it’s a forbidden love.”
As part of Speaking of Pride, empowered by Bentley, £500 is being donated to a charity of Tom’s choosing. He has chosen Stars Dorset, which offers free one-to-one support to anyone in the Dorset area who has experienced any form of sexual violence at any time in their lives.
Also stepping into the back seat of a Bentley Flying Spur this year are Olympic champion and Strictly trailblazer Nicola Adams, who will recite a poem by fellow boxing legend Muhammed Ali, as well as Pretty Little Liars actor Julian Morris, who reads Carol Ann Duffy’s sensual queer poem ‘Warming Her Pearls’.
Author Jack Guinness delivers the forward from his acclaimed 2021 book The Queer Bible, while internet superstar Lewys Ball recites lyrics from Lil Nas X track ‘Sun Goes Down’, which deals with coming out.
Finally, star of The Chase Paul Sinha turns to the band that “soundtracked his life” – Pet Shop Boys – for his reading; a recital of their 1990 track ‘Being Boring’, which Sinha describes as a “life-affirming anthem to hedonism and the acute sense of loss people feel along the way”.
Speaking of Pride, empowered by Bentley is part of Attitude Pride at Home, which runs from 9-19 June on attitude.co.uk, youtube.com/attitudemag, and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (@attitudemag).
Attitude Pride at Home is to benefit the Attitude Magazine Foundation for LGBT causes.
To donate £3 please text ATHOME3 to 70480 or click here.