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‘Shortbus’ Cast Didn’t Study for This in Acting Class (NYT)
Sep 24th, 2024 by Viviane
By FRANK BRUNI
IN the crazy and no doubt kinky history of casting calls, there have surely been few like the one for “Shortbus.” It was all about sex, but not because the actors were coming on to the director. And not because the director was looking for big-name hotties to lure audiences into theaters. He wanted people whose sexual histories and hangups might become fodder for the screenplay. He wanted erotically adventurous recruits for an expedition to what he saw as an unexplored confluence of drama, comedy and unblinking pornography.
And so, on a Web site for what he cryptically called “the sex film project,” the director, John Cameron Mitchell, solicited videotapes “of no longer than 10 minutes of you, the actor, talking about a true-life sexual experience that was very important to you.” Any actor averse to having sex on camera, he added, need not apply. (more…)