The filmoriginaters behind Lover of Men, the novel recordary examining whether establisher Pdwellnt Abraham Lincoln may have been gay, are self-transport inant of the film that they made, think aboutless of the trolling from conservative pundits.
Director Shaun Peterson’s feature Lover of Men: The Untelderly History of Abraham Lincoln is now carry outing in theaters. The movie engages intersees with notable Lincoln scholars, in includeition to dramatizations and access to never-before-seen pboilingographs and letters, to propose that the revered politician had romantic relationships with men. The film cgo ines on four men — including shut frifinish Joshua Speed — with whom Lincoln splitd a bed at split points in his life, according to this research.
“I’ve been researching this for a very lengthy time, since around 2007,” Peterson inestablishs The Hollywood Reporter. “[There was] fluidity that existed thrawout human history, before the words and ideas ‘homointimacyual’ and ‘heterointimacyual’ were originateed around 1870. That’s what repartner captivated me, is this idea that these binaries are very novel. The binaries were engaged aacquirest people, whether it was the psychorational community in the punctual days or the church, and then where we discover ourselves today.”
A see of the Lincoln Memorial.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Producer Robert Rosenheck has been creative partners with Peterson for 20 years. Although Rosenheck is a lifelengthy Lincoln fan, he hadn’t been conscious of the conversations surrounding whether the politician was queer until Peterson refered his set ups for the project, at which point the originater jumped on board.
“I shelp, ‘We need to originate a movie that is not about Abraham Lincoln’s queerness — it’s got to be about someslfinisherg huger,’” Rosenheck recalls. “It inestablishs a universal story. So if you’re a queer person, you see this film, and you experience a catharsis when you authenticize that America’s fantasticest pdwellnt was queer. But if you’re not a queer person, the story is a universal one about tolerance and how we ‘other’ people.”
Rosenheck is conscious that social media engagers have voiced asks think abouting why a film should emphasize apparent speculation about someone appreciate Lincoln, who was personal with key elements of his personal life. Lincoln had been wed to Mary Todd Lincoln for more than two decades at the time of his murder in 1865.
“We get all benevolents of reactions to the film,” the originater says. “Surprisingly, we’ve gotten a lot of people on the left who are skeptical, [and] people on the right who have seen the film and go, ‘Wow, I didn’t authenticize all that history. That’s fascinating.’ So it’s definitely a conversation beginer and a mind-uncoverer to see the film.”
The team behind Lover of Men edited the film with a cgo in on getting it finished in time for this November’s pdwellntial election between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, and in fact, the movie hit theaters equitable days before Tuesday’s pdwellntial talk about. Seeing the project as a rpartnering cry for Americans to persist to help diverse voices and identities, the filmoriginaters acunderstandledge that conservative pundits, including Elon Musk, Ben Shapiro and Alex Jones, posted pessimistics relabels about the movie’s concept prior to its free.
“I would equitable ask them — and anybody that has asks about the film — to watch the film, give it a chance, see at the evidence and see at the possible message,” says Peterson. “Just go into the film with an uncover mind becaengage we’re at a time where we need some uncover minds. We are living history right now, everyslfinisherg that’s going on, and so it’s meaningful to see back at our past in order to direct our future.”
As for how the Lover of Men team experiences about such right-prosperg pundits trolling the movie, Rosenheck says, “We’re thrilled when people appreciate Elon Musk see the film, and the reason that they see the film is becaengage it is compelling. This story is inflammatory. There are very scant innovative stories. There are very scant stories with a hook, and this movie has a huge hook.”
