"Plainclothes" stars Tom Blyth, left, and Russell Tovey pose for a portrait in New York.
Lucas (Tom Blyth, left) is angry and repressed as he tries to keep his relationship with Andrew (Russell Tovey) hidden
"I was taking the material home with me in quite a heavy way," says Tom Blyth, left, who plays a closeted gay man opposite Russell Tovey.
Russell Tovey, right, says there was "an instant trust and safety net" working with Tom Blyth.

NEW YORK − When Russell Tovey came to Hollywood, he got two pieces of advice.

"Get your ears pinned back and don't come out," recalls the former child actor, who has been openly gay for most of his adult career. "I defied both of those demands and here I am talking to USA TODAY. Who's laughing now?!"

Tovey, 43, has proudly told an abundance of queer stories in TV’s “Looking,” “Feud” and “American Horror Story.” The latest is “Plainclothes” (in theaters now), a woozy new thriller set in 1990s New York, following a steely undercover cop named Lucas (Tom Blyth), who is assigned to lure and arrest gay men cruising for hookups in public spaces. But he starts to question everything when he falls in love with one of his targets, Andrew (Tovey), who also lives a double life.

Blyth, 30, says he was actively looking for something “intimate and gritty” after starring as a young Coriolanus Snow in “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.” He immediately “flipped for the script” by writer and director Carmen Emmi, who draws from his own personal story as he tackles topical issues of anxiety and policing.

“Carmen leads with strength through vulnerability, and you can see that in the film,” Blyth says. It’s true of the movie’s much-discussed sex scene, which manages to be both explicit yet deeply tender as Lucas and Andrew unleash their pent-up desire in the back of a van.

“I find that scene so beautifully done and so not gratuitous that I don’t really mind talking about it,” Blyth says. “The major thing that’s holding Lucas back in his life is that he can’t be honest with himself, so the sex feels vital and urgent. It’s two people realizing that they’re falling for each other, but also that they may never get this chance again.”

Tom Blyth, Russell Tovey say school was 'an exercise in toxic masculinity'

From a young age, boys are taught that a punch is better than a hug. It’s an idea that Emmi encountered in his research and resonated strongly with the film’s stars, both of whom were born and raised in the U.K.

“High school was just an exercise in toxic masculinity,” Blyth says. “I remember being so fearful to go into the P.E. changing rooms, because there were certain guys who wanted to fight and constantly exert their dominance. I remember thinking, ‘You’ve got to fit in or go under the radar. You’ve got to survive.’

“And then I think back, and I’m like, ‘God, most of the guys in there probably felt the same,’ ” he adds. “It would be so much easier to go through school if only everyone was taught to talk about their feelings.”

Tovey recalls how “exhausting” and “stressful” it was to be in the closet before he came out at 18.

“We as queer people inherently carry a lot of shame, especially my generation and older,” Tovey says. “When I was younger, I desperately wanted not to be gay and tried to hide it from so many people.” He viscerally remembers causing trouble and playing dumb so he wouldn’t be teased at school.

“If you were intelligent or showed interest in anything other than soccer, then you were gay and you’d be a target,” Tovey says. He recalls one particular experience in a religious education class, “when the teacher said, ‘One or two people in this class will statistically be gay.’ Every single person in the class looked at me and they all started laughing. I was like, ‘What the heck?’

“After that, I went, ‘I really need to be hypervigilant now and not make too much of a scene.’ It's horrible.”

'Plainclothes' is scarily relevant for members of the queer community

In conversation, both actors speak passionately and often about theater. Tovey raves about James Corden’s “brilliant” Broadway revival of “Art,” while Blyth marvels at his close friend Rachel Zegler, who recently starred in “Evita” in London. (“It felt like watching a once-in-a-generation performance,” he smiles.)

As preteens, they each found refuge on stage and in drama class, which “was probably the first space I was in that promoted gentle, vulnerable masculinity,” Blyth says.

“That's what you’d hope school would facilitate and they're taking that away from education,” Tovey adds. “You need that outlet to be like, ‘OK, I can channel all these feelings.’ ”

They’re moved by the responses they’ve gotten so far to “Plainclothes,” which has become even more timely given New York’s recent crackdown on a queer hookup spot in Midtown Manhattan, with more than 200 arrests for public lewdness since June.

“Carmen recently saw a comment (online) from a guy who said, ‘I’m a retired Chicago PD officer and this is what happened to me,’ ” Blyth says. “Knowing that people have lived Lucas’ story is just insane to hear, but the fact that people feel seen by it as well is an amazing thing.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tom Blyth plays a closeted cop in 'Plainclothes.' The movie couldn't be timelier.

Reporting by Patrick Ryan, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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