INTERVIEW
CHRIS
MASON
JOHNSON
C
hris Mason
Johnson’s new
movie TEST
has finally
opened in the
UK and is set to
repeat its Stateside
smash success. It is the
tender and
heartbreaking story of
Frankie, a young male
dancer in 1985, which
had to deal with the
early onslaught of the
AIDS epidemic and see
if he could find the
resolve to take the first
ever HIV test that had
just become available.
It’s a stunning tale,
powerfully told and will
undoubtedly be on our
list of Top Ten Movies of
2014. Director/writer
Chris Mason Johnson
took time out of his busy
schedule to sit down
with our movie critic
Roger Walker-Dack to
give this EXCLUSIVE
INTERVIEW to THEGAYUK
was a major element in why
this film succeeded on so
many levels. Can you tell us
about how your own
background as an ex-dancer
led you to making this
decision, and how it affected
the film?
Setting this in a very crucial
and tough moment in gay
history in the context of this
contemporary dance troupe
About a decade ago there
were some tasteless and
opportunistic gay movies that
made AIDS another clichéd
Although I was a teenager when
this all occurred I drew a lot
through autobiography and what
was happening to people close to
me. As an ex-dancer, one of my pet
peeves was that male dancers
hadn’t been represented well in
movies at all. They are either ultra
straight or they are outrageously
gay and something of a joke. I’ve
never seen a male ballet dancer
especially taken seriously in a
movie.
Picture Credit: Peccapics
I wanted to tell the story of a group
of young frightened men, well one
in particular, that didn’t have a lot
of language to deal with. Most of
the movies dealing with AIDS up
to now have been mainly deathbed
stories, and I didn’t want to do
another one of those. Drama is
usually played out by dialogue and
is talk, talk, talk, and my
experience as a very young
teenager in the early epidemic was
that we didn’t say a word about it,
as we were too petrified. Talking
about it would make it real. So by
Congratulations on your truly using dance as a metaphor to tell
wonderful new movie. We at
this story I could use all the facets
of the body particularly, the
THEGAYUK repeated the wellvulnerability and the sensuality. I
deserved honour you got
could represent that all through
from the NY Times who very
the image of dance without having
happily gave it a very rare 5
the characters talk about it.
stars.
26 AUG / SEPT 2014 | THEGAYUK