All of Us Strangers’ Andrew Haigh on LGBTQ stories in Hollywood: ‘There’s an illusion that everything has changed’

The creator behind All of Us Strangers, Andrew Haigh, has shared his thoughts on whether audiences and Hollywood are more accepting of LGBTQ stories than they were 10 years ago.

All of Us Strangers stars Andrew Scott as a lonely gay man who looks back into his past to confront his trauma. The film also stars Paul Mescal, Claire Foy, and Jamie Bell.

Speaking at a Q&A following a screening of the film at the BFI on Wednesday (17 January) Andrew was asked by moderator Russell Tovey about his filmography and its queer themes.

On whether audiences and Hollywood had become more accepting of LGBTQ stories in the last decade or so, Andrew, who felt All of Us Strangers could have been made 10 years ago, gave his verdict.

“I think that there’s an illusion that everything has changed. And it’s much easier. But I don’t know if that’s true.” Elaborating further, Andrew, whose work includes Weekend, Looking, and Greek Pete, revealed he had pitched queer projects and had not had an enthusiastic response. “I don’t think it’s because of the queerness,” he added. “It’s about what you’re saying about queerness.”

An example he gave was: “A historical love story where you’re saying it was rough in the past, and now everything’s fine,” would be “All good,” by Hollywood’s standards.

“Safe projects are easier to get made” – All of Us Strangers‘ Andrew Haigh

Andrew then shared that he had tried to make a TV show around the Act Up grassroots political organisation. It was set up in the 1980s to help people living with Aids. The series, Andrew indicated, would have been based on Sarah Schulman’s book Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP, New York, 1987-1993.

“We pitched it to everybody, to all the studios,” Andrew explained. “I thought, ‘This will get made.’ It’s political, it’s queer, it’s really fascinating.” Asked why the idea wasn’t picked up, Andrew theorised: “They didn’t want to do anything that had Aids in it.” This, he then revealed, all happened “a year or two ago.”

He continued saying the response “was hard” to take. “It was political and it was angry and very queer and dealing with really traumatic events, I guess. I was really surprised that no one would make that.” Coming back to the original question Andrew summarised that some things are still easier to make than others. “But I think maybe that’s just the case of TV and film in general. Safe projects are easier to get made,” he concluded. “Especially TV, I think it’s getting better.”

All of Us Strangers is in UK cinemas on 26 January.