I Want Your Sex: Film News & Buzz

It’s been a minute since Hollywood got properly weird about sex, power, and the kind of age gap that makes your aunt clutch her pearls. Enter I Want Your Sex, a new film from indie provocateur Gregg Araki (The Doom Generation, Kaboom) that hits theaters this Wednesday, July 29, and promises to stir up just the right amount of discomfort. The movie follows fresh-faced Elliot (Cooper Hoffman) as he lands a gig as the sexual muse for Erika Tracy, a renowned artist and provocateur played by Olivia Wilde. What starts as a fantasy quickly spirals into a murky world of obsession, betrayal, and murder. With a 90-minute runtime and a cast that includes Mason Gooding, Charli XCX, Daveed Diggs, and Johnny Knoxville, I Want Your Sex is positioning itself as the kind of messy, provocative drama that dares you to look away.

The Age Gap That Everyone’s Talking About

Let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way: the age difference between Olivia Wilde (42) and Cooper Hoffman (23) is nearly two decades. In the film, that gap is intentional - Erika Tracy is a seasoned, famous artist, while Elliot is a fresh-faced kid who thinks he’s getting the gig of a lifetime. But in real life, Hollywood’s relationship with age gaps is shifting. For decades, we saw older men paired with younger women (think Lost in Translation or American Beauty), but the reverse - older women with younger men - has long been treated as either a joke or a scandal. I Want Your Sex flips that script, leaning into the power dynamics with a knowing wink. It’s not a romantic comedy; it’s a thriller about control. And that’s exactly why people are talking.

Director Gregg Araki has never shied away from pushing buttons. He told a recent press junket that the film is “a love letter to the messy, complicated ways we connect - and disconnect - through desire.” With Wilde’s character as the dominant force, the movie questions who really holds the power when youth meets experience. It’s a conversation that feels timely, especially in an industry still grappling with its own history of exploitation.

A Cast Full of Surprises

Beyond the central pair, the ensemble is delightfully offbeat. Mason Gooding plays Zap, a character who seems to exist between friend and rival. Chase Sui Wonders (Bodies Bodies Bodies) is Apple, which is either a name or a metaphor - probably both. Then there’s Daveed Diggs as Vikktor, Charli XCX as Minerva, and yes, Johnny Knoxville and Margaret Cho as a detective duo. That’s the kind of casting that suggests Araki is having a blast, mixing highbrow and lowbrow with zero shame. Expect a soundtrack that slaps, too, given Charli’s involvement - she’s no stranger to blending pop provocation with emotional rawness.

Is This the Dawn of the “Muse” Trend?

We’ve seen a recent uptick in films about artists and their muses - from The Girl on the Train to Spencer - but I Want Your Sex takes a more literal approach. Elliot isn’t just inspiration; he’s a sexual partner, a subject, and eventually a victim of his own naivety. The film’s marketing has emphasized the word “obsession” more than “romance,” which makes sense. This isn’t a cozy May-December love story; it’s a descent into a world where boundaries dissolve and identities get erased. Hollywood often sanitizes age-gap relationships (think The Reader or An Education), but Araki seems intent on showing the rot beneath the surface.

Why Now?

The release date - right at the end of July - positions I Want Your Sex as a counterprogramming alternative to the summer’s blockbuster crush. It’s arthouse fare with mainstream appeal, thanks to Wilde’s star power and the buzz around Hoffman (whose career is heating up after Licorice Pizza and The Fabelmans). But the bigger question is whether audiences are ready for a movie that doesn’t comfort them. In a cultural moment where we’re rethinking consent, power, and the stories we tell about desire, Araki’s film might just be the messy, uncomfortable conversation starter we need. Or it could be a one-way ticket to a Twitter debate. Either way, those 90 minutes are sure to leave an impression.

I Want Your Sex opens in theaters July 29. Bring your own judgment.

Source: Vogue