Some hustlers don't possess hearts of gold. Instead, they have a cynical, observant wit. Such is the case of X, the smolderingly handsome—and quite expensive—escort protagonist of Boy Culture, director Q. Allan Brocka's sexy, funny and accomplished adaptation of Matthew Rettenmund's 1995 novel of the same name. ( The movie will debut April 6 at Landmark's Century Centre. )
Narrated by X ( Derek Magyar ) , Boy Culture begins as he, who maintains an elite roster of only 12 clients, takes on a new regular, Gregory. Rich, reclusive and erudite, Gregory ( Patrick Bauchau ) tells X that they won't have actual sex until their attraction is mutual, so until then they share deep, probing discussions. Meanwhile, only one guy gets X's heart pumping: his sexy Black roommate, Andrew ( Darryl Stephens ) . Still figuring out his sexuality, Andrew's the only one X can't have—the opposite of their third roommate, Joey ( Jonathon Trent ) , a frisky teenage twink with just enough room in his brain to contain sex, parties and a lusty crush on X. Over time, a tense road trip, sex ( and attempted sex ) , and revelations involving Gregory, X and his roommates learn that no matter what a heart's made of, it's capable of warmth, betrayal and hurt.
After first making his name on the gay film fest circuit with the animated-short series Rick & Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple in the World and the saucy sex comedy Eating Out ( and its 2006 sequel, which he co-wrote and produced ) , Brocka breaks out with his most substantive work to date. Boy Culture's journey to screen began when producer/co-writer Philip Pierce optioned the book. It struck a chord with Brocka as well, who saw it as exactly the type of film he wanted to make, divergent from the admittedly superficial Eating Out whilst still breezily paced, comic, accessible and sexy. 'Eating Out was the first film I was able to get made, for very little money,' he notes. 'A college sex comedy only with gay people to have fun and turn them on. But that's not the only kind of film I want to make. I wanted to make things more along the lines of Boy Culture, which I wrote before Eating Out, that have a larger budget and more to say.'
In adapting the novel significant changes were made, as both Brocka and his three lead actors point out. The book's denizens were whittled down and the focus placed on X. One character's calamitous experience involving herpes became a disastrous experience involving party drug GHB ( a drug that presents more of a deadly threat to today's young gays, Brocka notes ) . And Andrew was transformed from a jockish white boy to an African-American.
'From what I understood, Allan was sick of seeing these love stories between two white guys that didn't involve anything other than they were two white guys,' Stephens shares. 'He felt an obligation as a person of color to be more inclusive. I wasn't sure how it would play but it plays very well. Aside from the race issue, in the book he's a corn-fed boy from the Midwest. He's probably a little less introspective in the book, more simple.'
Although a newcomer to feature film roles, Magyar had previously appeared on TV series including Boston Legal, Charmed and Star Trek: Enterprise, in which he portrayed the recurring Commander Kelby. Well-known to gay audiences by now, Stephens plays the titular character in LOGO's Noah's Arc series and a booty-shaking go-go boy in last year's Another Gay Movie. And Trent, whose exotic, youthful looks are a result of Japanese/European and Finnish parentage, has appeared in a handful of indie features, including 2006's Love is the Drug alongside Darryl Hannah.
Stephens entered the picture thanks to Noah's Arc creator Patrik Ian-Polk, who suggested the actor to Brocka. 'I said, 'I know you're making a show and must have seen every talented Black actor who is willing to play gay,'' Brocka recalls. 'So he said, 'Well we have this amazing guy—but you'd have to be done [ shooting ] by our shoot otherwise I won't even let him audition!''
Fortunately, the timing worked out, and Stephens ( who doesn't discuss his sexuality in interviews ) got to flex his chops by playing two gay characters—and make them quite different from one another—in a row. 'I did know Noah was going to be seen as the over-the-top queen by a lot of people,' he admits, 'and I think there was cognizance on my part to present a different color to the public. For myself, I would like to keep expanding with the work I was doing but I was also aware of wanting each character to stand on their own. So even if I was typecast [ by playing gay characters ] it wouldn't be the same character.'
Unlike Stephens, the straight-identified Trent hadn't played gay before. So, once on location in Seattle, Brocka had Trent visit Lambert House, a center for LGBT youth under age 22, where he might meet and observe real-life Joeys. 'Darryl went along with him once for moral support,' Brocka recalls, 'and they stopped Darryl [ from entering ] and said, 'You're aged out.' Aged out! [ Laughs ] I really wanted Jonathon to be comfortable letting loose and taking the role where it needed to go. Joey is a lot of stereotypes. He's very flamboyant but also very forward, and it's tough to play that without it being comical. And, being a straight actor, he was afraid of offending people and wanted it to be true. It was a great place for Jonathon to meet people.'
Brocka himself spent time at Lambert House during his formative Seattle years and admits he met a number of real-life hustlers there—some of them destitute teens kicked out by homophobic families.
Having chatted with a few rent boys in prep to play X, the heterosexual Magyar feels the only distinguishing quality that separates a hustler from anyone else is 'the fact he charges people to have sex with him. It's pretty black-and-white.'
'Derek was exactly what I wanted for X,' says Brocka. 'He was so right on. I would have freaked out if he brought something extra.' To clarify that statement: While some directors hope that an actor might bring shades and elements they never envisioned to a part, even redefining it, Brocka didn't have the time or budget to allow for much invention on set. Shooting over a tight 18 days on a typically painful indie budget, 'everything was so tight I had to know every little beat before we went into the scenes. So if he tried to bring something extra and it didn't work it would have cost us.'
Adding a dash of controlled experience was Bauchau, a Belgium-born thespian whose Hollywood credits include The Rapture ( in which he played a debonair yet debauched swinger ) , The Cell, Panic Room and TV's Alias. Working with the actor—and the expanded relationship X and Gregory share in the screenplay—proved one of the most compelling lures for Magyar. 'It's barely touched on in the book—it's a subplot—and it's a focus in the movie,' Magyar says. 'And it makes the film, in my opinion. Those are the most exciting scenes. They influence who X is and who he becomes.'
Did they also influence Magyar to consider a life as an escort if the acting thing doesn't pan out? 'I think everybody should give hustling a try at some point in their lives,' he smiles. 'But hustling is never the answer—unless you get paid as much as X did. I'd seriously consider it myself. I'm worth it.'
See www.boyculturemovie.com .
