More than 30 years after Madonna: Truth or Dare, the documentary still has a hold on LGBTQ pop music and cinema.
In Troye Sivan‘s new Grindr campaign Tap or Block, directed by Jake Wilson and produced by Juxtapose Studio‘s Charlie Wilson (no relation), the Australian gay pop-star and his Something to Give Each Other Tour dancers discuss hotel sex, open relationships, communication and more as they pay tribute to the 1991 Alek Kesheshian and Mark Aldo Miceli-helmed documentary.
“What was really fun about this idea is it came around really organically,” Charlie Wilson tells Deadline. “Once we had Troye’s interest and Grindr’s interest, it seemed like such a natural segue from really hearing how proud Troye was about this tour and how close his relationship was with these dancers, and thinking about how Grindr is this boundary-pushing, sex-positive brand.”
He credited Tristan Pineiro, Grindr’s SVP Brand Marketing + Comms, with coming up with the concept, “something reminiscent of Madonna’s Truth or Dare, the iconic Barcelona scene where there’s the gay kiss and how Troye’s current relationship sort of mirrored that in an interesting way.”
Pineiro said the documentary was “a true awakening for so many of us,” adding, “Seeing gay people in mainstream media, talking about sex and intimacy was unheard of. So, when this opportunity with Troye, one of the biggest gay global icons, came up, Madonna’s impact was definitely something we wanted to pay homage to, while leaning into not only Troye’s and his dancers’ experiences, but the highly relatable behaviors and topics of discussion for our Grindr community.”
Documenting her controversial 1990 Blond Ambition World Tour, Truth or Dare served as an intimate behind-the-scenes look at Madonna’s relationships with her dancers, crew, friends and family, as well as then-boyfriend Warren Beatty.
Juxtapose has put $25,000 from the campaign toward writer and actor Andrew Chappelle‘s (Broadway’s Hamilton, The Tick, Blindspotting) upcoming short I’m Gonna Kill You, with matched funding from Google exec and film financier Kate Aitken. The short also received a $5,000 production grant last June when Chappelle won Inside Out 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival‘s two-minute “Pitch, Please!” competition. Filming begins in May.
Chappelle describes I’m Gonna Kill You as “a gay erotic thriller that’s set in a post-apocalyptic,” specifically “an all-gay colony of men, and it explores the perils of monogamy.”
The short comes after last year’s Ripe!, which Juxtapose co-founder Luke Anderson produced alongside college friend, NWSL pro Kelley O’Hara, after re-investing funds from Juxtapose’s Dick’s Sporting Goods campaign, starring Will Arnett and Kathryn Hahn. Directed by Tusk, Ripe! won Tribeca Film Festival‘s Best Narrative Short.
