The 1980 film Cruising, starring Al Pacino as an undercover cop investigating a murder in the New York City gay, leather, bar scene, was plagued with controversy, and protests by the gay community.
Director William Fredkin cut over 40 minutes of sexually explicit material to deliver an “R” rated movie and to appease the Motion Picture Association of America.
Those 40 minutes have never been screened publicly.
Franco and Travis Mathews set out to reimagine what might have transpired in those lost scenes in this intriguing film about the making of a film and actor Val Lauren re-creates the Al Pacino role.
Val is repeatedly forced to negotiate his boundaries during scenes on and “off camera,” as unsimulated gay sex happens around him. The film itself is constructed as a play with boundaries remaining queer in subject and form. As much a film about filmmaking as it is about an exploration of sexual and creative freedom, and defies easy categorization.
“Interior. Leather Bar.” opens at The Sundance Film Festival this week.
