The problem isnвЂ™t even that these harmful ideas are an undercurrent in the character reactions. While Kwame seems pretty secure in his sexuality, what about the next man who isnвЂ™t? Does this new person not discussing their sexual/romantic history make them a predator?Д¬rucially this also ignores the societal violenceand stigmas which make some queer people, particularly pan/bisexual people, not so eager to discuss their sexual history with every new partner. This particular stigma is even higher when it becomes to Black gay men specifically, who are disproportionately represented amongst the population of people living with HIV/AIDS.ДЄnother is that bi/pansexual men are just 'gay men in denial' or somehow illegitimate in their attraction to women, so are therefore operating in bad faith when they enter into sexual/romantic relationships with women. The first of which is that queer men are somehow 'dirty', a large part of which is borne out of the homophobic panic around HIV/AIDS and the idea that this is a disease spread almost exclusively by gay men. The idea that non-disclosure of sexuality is adjacent to assault echoes some homo/biphobic ideas. And Michaela is switched on, so she wants the actors on her show to feel safe.In framing the situation of Kwame and Nilufer as adjacent to sexual assault, something emphasised by how KwameвЂ™s physicality directly mirrors that of his rapist a few episodes before, a false and worrying equivalence is implicitly created. ItвЂ™s part of a language of вЂњI May Destroy You,вЂќ that sexuality and that physicality. But if it was the other way around, or if neither of us had had that experience, itвЂ™s fully the blind leading the blind in a situation thatвЂ™s incredibly dangerous and intimate. SheвЂ™d already had an amazing career, so she had the experience to get us to discuss it, ask me what I thought. It was one of my first jobs of that level onscreen. I did a show awhile ago called вЂњPress,вЂќ and Charlotte Riley and I had some sex scenes in that, and we obviously didnвЂ™t have an intimacy coordinator. The example she sets and the practices she keeps is what makes those scenes feel real. She makes any of those scenes so chill and safe. What was it like working with the showвЂ™s intimacy coordinator, Ita OвЂ™Brien ? You donвЂ™t have to look very far at all to realize that the system isnвЂ™t currently in a place where it serves people in an egalitarian way. You can learn a lot about a character from their moments of solitude and silence, and we see a lot of moments of Kwame by himself - even when heвЂ™s in the room with people, often you see him a little bit cut off from them. This might be because I come from a theatrical background, but IвЂ™m just curious about how deep you can go with characters in terms of their psychology, their responses and what they donвЂ™t say.

WhatвЂ™s your process for figuring out how youвЂ™re going to embody a character like Kwame? All we can do is make it as truthful as possible and as authentic as possible. I think itвЂ™s pointless to try and second guess the way that people are going to react. Who could have predicted that we would now not only be lockdown, but also in the throes of a political pandemic, which also affects the way that people are able to take on this kind of work? We were just trying to do justice to the story thatвЂ™s put in front of us and trying to fill these characters with as much humanity as they deserve.

That allows ego to interfere with what youвЂ™re doing.

Kwame i may destroy you