‘The Latent Image’ Actor Joshua Tonks on Writing, Acting, and Queer Horror
Pat King
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Joshua Tonks’ acting is enigmatic, powerful, thoughtful, and playful. In The Latent Image, Tonks plays Ben, a frustrated writer who’s running low on inspiration. When inspiration does come in the form of a mysterious drifter (Jay Clift), things get very dark very quick. Add William Tippery (who plays Ben’s boyfriend) to the equation and you have a horror/thriller film with some of the best performances you’re likely to see anytime soon.
In the film,
A stranger appears at a young thriller writer’s cabin deep in the American wilderness. Mysterious, intriguing, attractive, and terrifying, has he found the perfect inspiration for his new book, or are his darkest fantasies about to come to life?
Directed by Alexander McGregor Birrell, the story, based on a short film of the same name, was co-written by Tonks, giving him a unique perspective on the character that he portrays. It was my pleasure to talk to him about writing, performing, queer horror, and collaboration.
Dread Central: How did you come to work with Alexander Birrell?
Joshua Tonks: Alex and I met in 2016, 2017. I was working in a theater, and at that theater, for our showreel, we decided to put something on camera. So I came up with a short horror film which we shot over a week while the theater was dark. There wasn’t a show on, so we could use backstage, and the stage that didn’t have a set on it, and all the behind-the-scenes stuff that was kind of creepy. I wrote and co-directed a short horror film called Stage Fright, which you can find on my Instagram. Very silly, no money, low budget. I was tweeting about that and Alex just reached out and we met there. Then once Alex and I met, we just started exchanging ideas and scripts, and came to the conclusion that we should collaborate and come up with a short film.
DC: What sparked the initial idea for the short film version of The Latent Image?
JT: A lot of making the short was based on what was practical and what we were able to do. So a lot of the ideas were single location and a limited amount of actors. Then we just drew on inspiration from things we really liked—cabin in the woods stories, Stephen King, and something with potential production value as well. We were very excited by the idea of something North American or Canadian. Something that had a little bit of scope and grandeur to the surroundings. Those were all the criteria that allowed us to come up with the idea of the short film The Latent Image.
DC: What are some of your favorite horror films?
JT: So Scream is probably the biggest influence on me. It’s my favorite horror movie. Kevin Williamson is a huge hero of mine. I just think there’s something to be said for being scary, and clever, and fun, and popcorn all in one go. I think that’s a real skill. And I’m a 90’s kid, so I grew up watching all the I Know What You Did Last Summers, and The Faculty. So they’re all my personal favorites. But I love a lot of modern horror movies as well. I love what Mike Flanagan is doing. I love what Michael Kennedy is doing—I thought Freaky was great. So, yeah, fun, teen, that’s the kind of stuff I really like.
DC: Did any of those films go on to influence the writing of The Latent Image?
JT: It absolutely did influence the writing. What’s nice is Alex’s tastes and mine complement each other really well. He’s very much into Giallo and Italian horror, whereas mine is meta, just a little bit lighter horror. We both love Stephen King, and I think that’s where the idea of having a writer as the protagonist came into play. And having a single location. Misery was brought up a lot. I think that’s one of our favorite films as well.
DC: Did you draw on any of your own fears as an LGBTQIA+ person either in the writing or acting?
JT: No, not consciously. I think a lot of the queer elements of the film were always there, they were always going to be there. It was always going to be a queer horror film because for us it was like, what’s the point? Why wouldn’t we do something that’s authentic to who we both are? The only moment I felt the weight of that was doing all the violence at the end. That felt quite heavy because we had to do it again, and again, and there was no victory. There was no fistbump moment. It was actually quite sad. That’s the only moment that really brought it up, but it was always there.
DC: Was it difficult going as psychologically dark as was required for the role?
JT: The film was a huge culmination. It took us a long time to get it made because of money, because of COVID. And so when it came time to actually do it I was nervous about some of the more emotional elements. But, ultimately, I was really excited to go there and finally have the opportunity to do it. Much of my work before this had been in theater, and so my nerves were all technical. It was like, can I translate my skills into this different medium of film? Because it’s such a different skill set.
When you’re on stage you have to play to a huge audience, whereas on camera you’re in an intense close-up, and so what you have to do is really different. And being less experienced at that was a challenge. But we had an incredible team. Mikey Thomas, who was our cinematographer, was fantastic. So it was great knowing that I had a support system around me to make me feel super comfortable during all of those intense scenes.
DC: How did you develop the uncanny ability to seemingly express two emotions at the same time? Fear and desire, strength and vulnerability, etc?
JT: I’m not sure how I developed that skill, but thank you for the compliment. A lot of it you just have to go on instinct—how it feels. Alex and I had chatted before about the character specifically, and what his intentions were. Some of the backstory. A lot of it drew on Alex’s personal experience. And just trusting the other actors that you’re working with, reacting to them, and responding to them.
DC: When did you realize you and Jay Clift had such great chemistry together?
JT: Well, Alex and I auditioned Jay back in Canada in 2018, when we were auditioning actors for the short. I knew Jay was the one from the beginning. There were lots of other actors that we saw that were fantastic. Some of them were very conventionally beautiful, and they really fit the attractive mystery of the character, and other actors were edgier and darker. But Jay was the perfect combination of both. And he’s such a sweet, funny guy that we instantly got on. He was lovely to work with.
By the time we got to the feature, I was incredibly comfortable. And I think we both were. So the more erotic elements, and the more violent elements, we were very comfortable working with each other. I felt very safe. I couldn’t have wanted a better scene partner, to be honest.
DC: What was it like working with William Tippery?
JT: Working with Will is wonderful! He’s a really good friend of mine anyway, so the chemistry was already there. While Ben’s character is more complicated and internal (he’s always fantasizing about these different things and creating stories) Will’s character Jamie represents the innocence, the purity, and maybe the angel on his shoulder. And that’s something that Will exudes as well. He’s just a really lovely, kind, sweet, funny guy, and was fantastic to work with.
DC: How is working with only two other characters different from working in more of an ensemble?
JT: I guess the difference is that it just creates more intimate relationships, and makes the piece feel more intimate. And for me, it just made it a lot simpler. I knew where to direct my attention and my focus, rather than having to think about relationships with so many different characters.
DC: What was it like working on your first feature? Are you glad to have done it with familiar faces?
JT: Amazing! It feels like a dream come true. Telling myself eight years ago, nine years ago when I was working in theater but really shifting my focus to film and screenwriting, that I’d be on the cover of a DVD and that I’d be leading a film that’s been doing festivals, it’s so exciting. And especially to work in a genre that I love. I love film, I love theater, but I’m very specific. I really love horror, and particularly queer horror. So to get the opportunity for that very specific subgenre to be my first feature is thrilling.
It’s always lovely working with people that you like, that you love. What was so great is the cast and crew of The Latent Image were all so wonderful. They were all so good at their jobs. Everyone felt like they were on the top of their game. And to broaden the scope of people I get to work with—there’s people from America, there’s people from Canada—it’s fantastic.
DC: What was it like filming such a dark piece in what must have been quite a serene location?
JT: The location was fantastic. We had a lot of issues because of COVID. We were supposed to shoot The Latent Image in the summer of 2020, but obviously, that didn’t happen. We were originally going to shoot in the same location where we shot the short film, but because of COVID that didn’t happen and we had to delay the shoot. Ultimately, I think it all worked out for the better. The shooting location was in the north of England in Penrith, Cumbria, and it was absolutely beautiful.
DC: Do you think there will be a time in the near future when LGBTQIA+ horror will just be horror? Will there be a time when queer eroticism is just as accepted as the “straight” stuff is today?
JT: I think this is a big question, and it’s a complicated one. I can’t speak for the entire queer community, but my point of view is sure, there could be, absolutely. I don’t imagine it will be anytime soon. I think horror within itself is such a niche, polarizing genre anyway, and there are so many subgenres within that that I think it will take a long time for even the horror community to agree on things just being horror. We have so many arguments and discussions about what’s a horror, what’s a thriller, what’s a slasher, what’s a home invasion. All of this. So when it comes to LGBTQ+ horror, I think it will be a long time coming.
But then on the flip side, being part of the queer community is special. It’s maybe something that we don’t want to just get lumped into with everybody else. I think there’s something to be said for being different and unique. I could see an argument being made, and there’s part of me that feels this way, that I don’t want to be included with everything else. It’s nice to be an outlier. However, I think the most important is the fact that there needs to be a variety of voices heard. We need as many queer voices heard in horror because that’s going to create variety and interesting stories and different points of view.
There can be a lot of pressure put on minority groups within cinema, whether it be women, whether it be people of color, whether it be people with disabilities, or the queer community to tell a story that’s The One and all-encompassing, and I think that’s impossible because humans are inherently unique, regardless of where we fit in. So providing platforms and opportunities for everyone to be able to tell their story is ultimately the most important thing
DC: What’s next for you?
JT: I’m shooting a film with Dark Temple Motion Pictures, with Charlie Steeds directing. It’s another horror movie. It’s somewhat Clive Barker-inspired. There are some Candyman and Hellraiser influences in there. We shot most of it in London in January. Very cold, so I feel like I’m making a habit of shooting horror movies in the coldest possible month of the year, but hey, I’m cool with it.
There are some scripts I need to finish, some stories I’m pitching at the moment. So, yeah, it’s very exciting.
The Latent Image is out now on digital and VOD.
Categorized:Interviews
