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HBO.com caught up with Canadian Luke Kirby for a languorous chat from Newfoundland, where he was "spending the last days of summer by the sea." |
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HBO
Was this a show you'd heard about and wanted to audition for? What was the casting process for you?
LK
I got the pilot script from my agent. I was in Toronto at the time. They called me in and I auditioned. Two days later I screen tested in La-La with Michelle [Borth, who plays Jamie]. They paired us up and we went into a big room – about 12 people in this little movie theater. It was one of the easiest rooms I've been in. It was so enjoyable to bounce off each other.
I liked the script. And yeah, there was all this hubbub about the sexual content of the show – the fleshy parts – that was running amok in the rumor mill. But I got to talk to Cynthia Mort during the audition process. And we talked about what her aims were and she seemed like a nice lady.
HBO
You don't sound like you were all that concerned about the fleshy parts.
LK
[Chuckles] It's a bit nerve-wracking to take your clothes off in front of a lot of people...maybe 10, and most of them are eating tuna melt sandwiches and farting. But I figured why not, you know? I figured Allen Ginsberg probably would have done it. And really the script was so good. It didn't seem like it was something that was going to be exploitative.
HBO
There's been a lot written in the press about the explicit sexual content from the women's point of view, but we haven't heard a lot from the men.
LK
[Fake crying] Yes, it's hard to talk about these things. We're not very good at talking.
HBO
Some people see Hugo as unsympathetic because he's not sure about being only with one woman. How do you see him?
LK
This argument that he and Jamie are having consistently is really based on different ideas about intimacy and communication. I think Hugo isn't really saying that he's not sure about being with only one person. He's just putting out the honesty of our nature – that we're not really designed to be monogamous. He doesn't see it as distrustful. He would be betraying his own values and trust to just state that he will only be with one person, because it seems like there's evidence that that can be very false, telling the lie that people want to hear. And I don't think Hugo is man enough to do it, to tell the lie...if that's what being a man is.
HBO
Was there anything about him you struggled to connect to?
LK
I'm impressed and frustrated by his patience. And his ability to access forgiveness so well. At least that's the way it seems. I don't know if he really knows what he's in for. But he's so forgiving of Jamie that I find that a bit. ...I have my doubts about that. I think that can be a slippery slope into the realm of anger at some point. He seems to think that forgiveness comes easily. Which is nice and maybe he's right...but I don't know.
HBO
At some point in the series, Hugo attends couples counseling. Do you know of guys your age who've done that?
LK
I don't know guys in their sixties who would do it. I don't have any friends who have done it...actually I do know a few, and now I'm gonna name them. No, I do know some people who've done it and it's helped. But I don't see it as a trend.
HBO
Is there anything you see about modern relationships that calls for needing the help of an outsider?
LK
I kind of like to think that we're just doing the same thing we've always been doing...just trying to figure out things. And I guess that therapy is a way to help figure things out. I'd prefer to just get a book at the library about it. [Pauses] We're so inundated with information with our TVs and YouTubes, and a lot of it does have some confusing, perverse, sexual innuendo that I can see how there can be a lot of pressure to be oversexed these days. You see all this and wonder, why am I not oversexed? You just feel wiped out by it at the end of the day.
HBO
Meaning, people think there's a problem in their relationship because they're not having as much sex as they see around them?
LK
Yeah, therapy can be a release to get a bit of steam out. Therapy does seem to do a lot of good for a lot of people. I read the other day that some Buddhist said that anger is very expensive. That's how he commented on therapy. So I'm really on the fence about it.
HBO
What is the dynamic of how sex works in Hugo and Jamie's relationship? Is it a crutch for communicating?
LK
Yes...but it's also very nice to do. It's the only way to get close. They try to talk, but they're boiling so much with each other. They just boil when the other person's around. Words aren't always that satisfying. And at least that closeness affects that. For an instant they are in that dance with oneness. They're like a double helix coming together. Dancing. It's a crutch, but it's where they're at. That's all they know. I don't even know if they know it's a crutch. Or would want to admit it. It's just so good to do.
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