Way was nervous about being around people outside of the cisgender experience. I know we use that word a lot, but this was just another reminder of how special it is to do this and to be in this world." "But getting to work with these creators and these other actor really showed me another layer of myself of who I am as a human being and as a creator, and the importance of showing up authentically as myself. "I expected to just have all the answers about what queerness meant to me, because I've been out for so long, and I've known so many people," Sibilly said. as Shar and Jesse James Keitel as Ruthie. The process of "Queer as Folk" prompted them to challenge any pre-conceived notions of queerness they may have held going in. His response? "Things look a little different now."īut the show's actors can attest to the value of pushing the limits of what you're comfortable with. They connected through conversations about their sexuality, asking questions like, "Wait, would you do it like this?" and answering with replies like, "Oh, I don't do it like that." Sibilly said filming the scenes also helped the cast bond. She also really helped with the choreography - because there was a lot." Devin Way as Brodie and Johnny Sibilly as Noah. "I was so grateful that we had an intimacy coordinator and she really created a really safe environment for me to express my boundaries and things that I was comfortable and not comfortable with. "I've never been a part of anything quite as intimate as what we got the privilege of doing on screen," the 32-year-old actor told TODAY. Way was happy that the intimacy coordinator, Hanna Hall, respected his boundaries. "When I got the audition, I was like, ‘Oh, I’ll probably be naked for this.’ And spoiler alert: we’re naked.”įor Devin Way, who plays the central character Brodie, Noah's ex finding his way after leaving med school, "Queer as Folk" marked the first time he simulated sex of any kind on camera. In "Queer as Folk," the spectrum of sex is fully realized in a safer way, in a manner that's reminiscent of the original. Sure, there's porn - but unhealthy sexual behaviors can be learned there. The reboot may serve as another kind of sex education for today's adolescents, since it provides one of the few frank depictions of sex in media.
Many LGBTQ people used the original American "Queer as Folk" - a reboot of a British series, which ran from 2000 to 2005 on Showtime - as a how-to guide on learning about the ins and out of same-sex relations (myself included.) It was really fun to experiment," he added. It was just really nice to be able to talk with the creators and really want to tell these stories in a way that felt like authentic to what queer sex actually looks like and not the same position that you see on every other show. "So ("Queer as Folk") felt like a coming home of sorts. In "Queer as Folk," Sibilly's biggest role to date, he plays Noah, a successful lawyer struggling to balance the rekindling of an old flame as he mourns the loss of a loved one. From there, he began booked roles in "Pose" and "Hacks," playing Marcus' (Carl Clemons-Hopkins) boyfriend. The 34-year-old actor first rose to prominence on Instagram, going viral for his hilarious characters.