The filmmakers behind Lover of Males, the brand new documentary analyzing whether or not former President Abraham Lincoln could have been homosexual, are happy with the movie that they made, whatever the trolling from conservative pundits.
Director Shaun Peterson’s function Lover of Males: The Untold Historical past of Abraham Lincoln is now enjoying in theaters. The film makes use of interviews with distinguished Lincoln students, along with dramatizations and entry to never-before-seen images and letters, to counsel that the revered politician had romantic relationships with males. The movie focuses on 4 males — together with shut buddy Joshua Pace — with whom Lincoln shared a mattress at separate factors in his life, in accordance with this analysis.
“I’ve been researching this for a really very long time, since round 2007,” Peterson tells The Hollywood Reporter. “[There was] fluidity that existed all through human historical past, earlier than the phrases and concepts ‘gay’ and ‘heterosexual’ had been invented round 1870. That’s what actually captivated me, is this concept that these binaries are very new. The binaries had been used towards individuals, whether or not it was the psychological neighborhood within the early days or the church, after which the place we discover ourselves immediately.”
A view of the Lincoln Memorial.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Photographs
Producer Robert Rosenheck has been artistic companions with Peterson for 20 years. Though Rosenheck is a lifelong Lincoln fan, he hadn’t been conscious of the conversations surrounding whether or not the politician was queer till Peterson talked about his plans for the undertaking, at which level the producer jumped on board.
“I stated, ‘We have to make a film that’s not about Abraham Lincoln’s queerness — it’s received to be about one thing bigger,’” Rosenheck remembers. “It tells a common story. So if you happen to’re a queer particular person, you see this movie, and also you expertise a catharsis once you notice that America’s biggest president was queer. However if you happen to’re not a queer particular person, the story is a common one about tolerance and the way we ‘different’ individuals.”
Rosenheck is conscious that social media customers have voiced questions concerning why a movie ought to emphasize obvious hypothesis about somebody like Lincoln, who was non-public with key components of his private life. Lincoln had been married to Mary Todd Lincoln for greater than 20 years on the time of his assassination in 1865.
“We get every kind of reactions to the movie,” the producer says. “Surprisingly, we’ve gotten lots of people on the left who’re skeptical, [and] individuals on the fitting who’ve seen the movie and go, ‘Wow, I didn’t notice all that historical past. That’s fascinating.’ So it’s positively a dialog starter and a mind-opener to see the movie.”
The workforce behind Lover of Males edited the movie with a give attention to getting it completed in time for this November’s presidential election between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, and actually, the film hit theaters simply days earlier than Tuesday’s presidential debate. Seeing the undertaking as a rallying cry for People to proceed to encourage various voices and identities, the filmmakers acknowledge that conservative pundits, together with Elon Musk, Ben Shapiro and Alex Jones, posted negatives remarks concerning the film’s idea previous to its launch.
“I’d simply invite them — and anyone that has questions concerning the movie — to look at the movie, give it an opportunity, take a look at the proof and take a look at the attainable message,” says Peterson. “Simply go into the movie with an open thoughts as a result of we’re at a time the place we want some open minds. We live historical past proper now, the whole lot that’s happening, and so it’s necessary to look again at our previous so as to inform our future.”
As for the way the Lover of Males workforce feels about such right-wing figures trolling the film, Rosenheck says, “We’re thrilled when individuals like Elon Musk discover the movie, and the explanation that they discover the movie is as a result of it’s compelling. This story is provocative. There are only a few unique tales. There are only a few tales with a hook, and this film has an enormous hook.”