‘I Want Your Sex’ Cast Knows How Hard It Is for Gen Z to Talk About Sex

For filmmaker Gregg Araki, what started as a riff on “50 Shades of Grey” evolved into “I Want Your Sex,” a film starring Cooper Hoffman and Olivia Wilde that takes an honest, unflinching, and yes, kink-filled look into modern sexuality and intimacy.

In the film, which just had its world premiere at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, Hoffman stars as Elliot, a young man in Los Angeles who gets a dream internship working for the provocative, sex-positive artist Erika Tracy, played by Wilde. But soon he becomes more than just Erika’s intern. He becomes her sadomasochistic muse. And that pushes Elliot far outside his comfort zone.

Araki, who has been known for decades for his avant-garde films about sexuality going back to his “Teenage Apocalypse” film trilogy in the ’90s, hasn’t put one out since “White Bird in a Blizzard” in 2014. In the decade since, he wrote a film that was about an intern and boss in a BDSM relationship, but found after #MeToo that he wasn’t comfortable about putting a man in the dominant role, even if it was consensual.

“But Cooper getting dragged around, I’d watch that!” he joked to TheWrap’s executive editor Adam Chitwood during an interview ahead of the Sundance premiere. “I just thought if we flipped the sex roles it was so much more fun. Originally, the Erika Tracy character was not in the script, and she was a man, but she became so much more interesting as a woman.”

And through Erika, Araki espouses many of his takes on modern sexuality, particularly his dismay that Gen Z has gained a reputation for being less willing to form intimate relationships. It’s something that has confounded the 66-year-old Araki since he first read an article about it, since he cites his sexual experiences as formative parts of who he has become as a person through the discovery of his queer identity, as well as his voice as a filmmaker.

“A lot of the younger generation, they’re scared of making a mistake. And the Erika character actually says it in the movie. Making mistakes is what being young is all about,” he added. “My concern — again, I’m the grandpa — is like, so are these kids gonna be 40 years old one day and go, ‘What the f–k was I doing?”

Co-star Mason Gooding noted how Gen Z’s preferred mode of communication is irony and sarcasm.

“I feel like a lot of Gen Z has gotten comfortable with communicating through memes and irony or sarcasm in order to express something they actually feel,” he said.

But the film’s cast, including Hoffman, told TheWrap that what drew them to the script was its empathy for the reasons why younger people in today’s world might not be comfortable with exploring their sexuality.

“I feel like this movie threads the needle so well, and why it’s gonna hit, especially with young audiences,” actress Chase Sui Wonders said. “You’re educating people about sex through all these jokes and through this humor, and it’s really threading a fine line.”

She added: “Even I have tough time … watching hardcore intimacy, because like, that’s too close. That should be behind a curtain.”

“I think people are also really afraid to say what they really want, because there’s such a vulnerability to that,” added Hoffman, noting that a big part of his performance as Elliot is about bringing to life his struggles with learning to sexually express himself.

“There’s such a vulnerability to be like, ‘No, I actually want someone to tell me what to do,’ right? I think this movie gives a certain generation freedom. The movie’s telling you, ‘Just go. Go f–k. Go do it,” he continued. “Obviously, within the aspects of consent and everything, but Elliot isn’t forced against his will. He’s just put in a position to do what he wants.”

Catch up on all of our Sundance coverage here.

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