MIC writer Kevin O'Keeffe spoke with actor Raúl Castillo shortly before the airing of HBO's LOOKING: THE MOVIE.

Here's an excerpt:

Kevin O'Keeffe: Richie's boyfriend in the Looking movie, Brady, is very much the antagonist of the film. He's a blogger who writes about the right way to be gay, and what's wrong with the community. He even faces off with Patrick over it. It struck me that a lot of the criticisms he throws at Patrick are criticisms that gay writers laid into the show. Do you think that was intentional?

Raúl Castillo: I don't know about intentional. I can't speak to what the writers were doing. But I think, if anything, they were giving Patrick a run for his money. It was great to see someone finally challenge Patrick. It was great to see it in Richie's partner.

I will say, what was exciting about watching the movie in San Francisco at the Frameline Film Festival with a full audience was listening to people respond to those conversations. They're conversations that, within the LGBT community, are occurring constantly. Or certainly, people are always thinking about those things. So when those conversations were happening in the movie, the audience responding as vocally as they did was really exciting. It was a confirmation for Michael Lannan and Andrew Haigh — or, at least, I hope it was for them — that they were voicing some of the concerns within the community, plus their own unique feelings as storytellers. It's great when the material on-screen is reflecting conversations in the world. I hope we can create some kind of space for those conversations to happen. READ MORE