I Want Your Sex (film)

Summarize Fact Check

At the luxurious home of renowned contemporary artist Erika Tracy, her 23-year-old lover Elliot finds her floating naked and unconscious in the pool.

Nine-and-a-half weeks earlier, a struggling, unemployed Elliot is living with his best friend Apple.

Erika hires Elliot as an assistant in her studio, and he befriends fellow assistant Zap as they help produce Erika’s avant-garde, sexually explicit artwork.

Elliot's girlfriend Minerva is uninterested in sex, and he begins to fantasize about Erika.

After Elliot's first week, Erika calls him to her office and initiates a sexual relationship between the two, instructing him to crawl to her to show his submission. Their BDSM dynamic deepens as the dominant Erika takes control of the submissive Elliot, despite warnings from Erika's business manager Vikktor.

Erika sends Elliot to her visiting French friend Yvette to sleep with her as a "birthday present", but Yvette rejects him for his overly facile attitude toward eroticism and sex.

Overwhelmed by his feelings for Erika, Elliot breaks up with Minerva, who seems indifferent to their breakup. As Erika prepares for a major art show, she instructs Elliot to bring an additional partner to her house that night for a threesome, and he invites Apple. Ignoring Elliot's discomfort, Erika handcuffs him in the corner while she seduces Apple. As he continually demands to be unbound, an exasperated Erika reluctantly uncuffs him and instructs Apple to penetrate him with a strap-on. Elliot adamantly refuses, leading a distraught Apple to tearfully question why he deems her an unfit sexual partner, and they go home early.

Drunkenly seeking closure with Minerva, Elliot goes to her place and finds her with another man.

Hurt and embarrassed, Apple asks him to move out. He moves in with Zap, with whom he works the opening of Erika's exhibition. There, Erika tries to reignite their relationship. Elliot complies until he sees videos of their sexual encounters on display. He angrily confronts Erika, who pretends to not know him and has him ejected from the gallery. The show is a critical and commercial failure, while news of Elliot's fight with Erika spread online, further harming her reputation.

Later, a drunk and unstable Erika summons Elliot to her home and gives him champagne, becoming physically aggressive as he rejects her advances. Elliot passes out and awakens to find Erika naked and unconscious in the pool. After failing to resuscitate her, he calls 911, but finds that her body has disappeared.

Police detectives question him about their relationship and suggest that he murdered her, but ultimately release him due to lack of a body and evidence.

Erika visits Elliot at Zap's apartment, where she explains that she and Vikktor manipulated Elliot into making a scene at the gallery, then drugged his champagne to allow her to fake her own death; in the wake of her disappearance, the exhibition sold out, financially rescuing the studio. Elliot is furious, but Erika urges him to use the scandal to boost his own career.

Two years later, Elliot is a successful podcaster and interviews Erika, who has written a book about the hoax. She leaves with her new sub, promising to stay in touch.

Another two years later, Elliot and Erika are seen getting married. After they kiss at the altar, Elliot watches in horror as Erika's face melts, revealing the marriage to be a shared nightmare they respectively wake up from in separate beds.

• Olivia Wilde as Erika Tracy, a renowned provocative artist and Elliot's lover
• Cooper Hoffman as Elliot, a naive young man who becomes Erika's new assistant and muse
• Mason Gooding as Zap, Elliot's co-worker
• Chase Sui Wonders as Apple, Elliot's best friend and roommate
• Daveed Diggs as Vikktor, Erika's business manager
• Charli XCX as Minerva, a graduate student and Elliot's girlfriend
• Johnny Knoxville as Detective Zem, a police officer
• Margaret Cho as Detective Zola, a police officer
• Roxane Mesquida as Yvette
• James Duval as the Justice of the Peace
• Michael Hitchcock & Nathan Bexton as the Bruces
• Darcy Marta as Margaret Epstein

In May 2024, it was reported that a thriller film directed by Gregg Araki and co-written by Karley Sciortino titled I Want Your Sex was in development, with Olivia Wilde cast in the lead role.^[3] In August, Cooper Hoffman joined the cast as Elliot and Charli XCX joined in an undisclosed role.^[4][5] In late October, Daveed Diggs, Mason Gooding, Chase Sui Wonders, Johnny Knoxville and Margaret Cho joined the cast.^[6] In November, Roxane Mesquida revealed that she joined the film.^[7]

The screenplay originally centered on a young woman and her older male boss. After revisiting the script years later, Araki and Sciortino reversed the characters' genders, resulting in the relationship between the older Erika and younger Elliot.^[8]

Araki was initially uncertain about casting Hoffman as Elliot, having associated him with his younger role in Licorice Pizza. After Hoffman submitted a self-taped audition, he flew from New York to Los Angeles for a chemistry read with Wilde. Araki said their chemistry and Hoffman’s presence convinced him that Hoffman was right for the role.^[9]

Filming

Principal photography began on October 2, 2024, in Los Angeles.^[4][10] Filming wrapped on October 27.^[6]

I Want Your Sex premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2026.^[11][12] In February 2026, Magnolia Pictures acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film in a seven-figure deal.^[13] The film also screened at the 43rd Miami Film Festival on April 13, 2026,^[14] the 23rd Indianapolis Film Festival on April 24, 2026,^[15] the 73rd Sydney Film Festival on June 4, 2026,^[16] and had its UK Premiere at the 79th Edinburgh International Film Festival on August 17, 2026.^[17]

The film was released theatrically in the United States on July 31, 2026.^[18]

On Rotten Tomatoes, 91% of 163 critic reviews are positive; the average rating is 7.3 out of 10. The website's consensus reads: "One of indie stalwart Gregg Araki's most accessible works yet, this bawdy dramedy leverages well-judged performances by Olivia Wilde and Cooper Hoffman to deliver incisive commentary on carnality and connection."^[19] According to review aggregator Metacritic, the film received "generally favorable" reviews based on a weighted average of 68 out of 100 from 35 critic scores.^[20][21]