Freaky: Director of body-swap horror-comedy says Vince Vaughn same-sex kiss not played for ‘laughs’

Christopher Landon, director of upcoming horror-comedy flick Freaky, has discussed the movie’s envelope-pushing LGBTQ+ representation in a new interview.

The tongue-in-cheek slasher film, which is out in the US next week, stars Kathryn Newton as a teenage girl, Millie, who swaps bodies with the killer played by Vince Vaughn.

The film features a standout queer moment of sorts when Vince-as-Millie locks lips with a teenage jock, but also of note is Kathryn’s fierce, Wicked-and Grindr-loving gay BFF Josh (played by Misha Osherovich, below) – and how much of a non-issue his sexuality is.

“Joshua is this confident gay character; it’s not a coming out story”

Speaking to SFX about Josh, Landon said: “What’s interesting and unique about Joshua is, because the movie is written by two openly gay men, we were able to do certain things other people maybe couldn’t do.

“Joshua is this confident gay character; it’s not a coming out story. But we were able to poke fun at our own culture.”

Landon also recalls telling Vaughn and co-actor Uriah Shelton of their kiss: “‘This is not a scene I intend to shoot for laughs – I want this to be a true love scene.’ That’s the way we approached it, the way it was rehearsed.

“It’s sweet! It’s really a scene about seeing a person for who they really are. We just screened the movie for the first time at a drive-in for a film festival and people were honking their horns and flashing their lights.

“What I think they were celebrating was the intent of the scene. And I was grateful to not get pushback from the studio, or from anyone.”

Freaky is set for release in the US on 13 November 2020, although its UK release date is unconfirmed.

Read the full interview in the Attitude December issue, available to download and to order globally now.

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