CITY A.M. – Last month, photos went viral of former EastEnders star Ben Hardy canoodling with the actor Jason Patel. In videos, the two often are tactile as they speak; a quick glance and they can look like absolute couple goals. Hardy, who has turned film actor and played Roger Taylor in the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, has had high profile relationships with female co-stars, and has a big female fan following, but here he was, comfortably intimate, in public, with another man at a press conference for his new LGBTQ romance drama, Unicorns. The narrative among the toxic trolls was clear: ‘Omg, Hollywood hunk is gay!’

“It’s interesting,” Hardy begins, relaxing on a bench in a London park one blisteringly hot June morning. “We’re not a couple, but we looked like a couple. We’re very close, we’re very good friends, and he’d be there blowing a kiss near my cheek. Then on Instagram I experienced a drop in the open of what it’s like to be an openly gay or queer person. I started getting comments and DMs and I was like, ‘What the f*ck?’ I spoke to Jason and he’s like, ‘Yeah, I get that every day,’ To experience it first hand even in a tiny way was shocking. Man, I can’t imagine going through that every single day. I don’t usually look at comments, it just sort of flagged up ‘cause it was big all caps: ‘OH MY GOD HE’S GAY.’”

Sadly, the abuse won’t stop. In Unicorns Hardy plays Luke, a single father who unravels when he falls for an Asian drag queen called Aysha, played by Patel. Given Hardy has achieved what most EastEnders alum can only dream of, playing opposite Ryan Reynolds in 6 Underground and landing the role of Angel in the X-Men franchise twelve months after he left Albert Square, it was brave to take on the LGBTQ indie – and the inevitable abuse – just as his Hollywood career gains traction. Lest we forget, homophobic hate crimes are rising in the UK and USA and it’s an established fact in film that you lose audiences in middle America – anywhere between the two coasts, where homophobia is rife – if you come out as gay, which’ll have a drastic effect on the roles you’re hired for.

Was he worried about the reception? “I’d be lying if I said it didn’t cross my mind,” starts Hardy, pausing. “It’s odd, I can still hear that voice of concern, but that’s part of the social conditioning, isn’t it? That’s part of the problem. Why shouldn’t an actor play any part? Why should they worry about being seen as something because surely it’s okay to be that something? So why the hell should you worry about portraying something? Yeah, it crossed my mind, but sometimes you have to just ignore the voices in your head. It was a really powerful script and a story that I wanted to be a part of so I wasn’t going to let that fear get in the way.”

It’s the sort of mental strength and clarity of thought that must have helped Hardy establish a career beyond the soap opera in the first place. The drive is undeniable: Speaking to Deadline this year, the 33-year-old said that when his EastEnders role became unchallenging, he felt like “I need to get out of here,” adding: “I think there’s a point where I had to leave, though, because I felt like if I didn’t leave, I’d get stuck in this.”

The conversation about which actors can play queer roles is complex, controversial and evolving. A few years ago the established narrative was that ‘straight’ actors playing gay was a cardinal sin. Russell T Davies, who rebirthed Doctor Who, is a posterboy for that narrative, criticising any non-queer actor playing queer roles. In 2016 Ben Hardy met a similar wrath when he was on the cover of gay magazine Attitude. One publication ran a hit piece entitled: “Gay UK Magazine Put Straight, White Ben Hardy on Cover.”

But therein lies the problem: how can we be so sure of anyone’s sexuality? More and more people are defining as bisexual or pansexual as we come to terms with the fact that, shock horror, it’s just not as simple as being gay or straight: there’s much grey area in-between. As the theatre director Mike Bartlett explained to City A.M. when he spoke about casting Cock, his play about bisexuality: “What’s tricky is, are you going to say to the actor, ‘I want a full list of everybody you’ve ever slept with?” It’s exactly the point Unicorns is trying to make.

How does Hardy feel about labels? “James Floyd [director of Unicorns] talks about it, he’s very anti label really,” he says. “He’s very much about how he doesn’t want to be put in a box. He was raised as an Asian guy, white dad, Asian mum, he’s sexually fluid himself, he’s still exploring that and figuring it out. He says there’s very much a hashtag culture, where people define themselves by their hashtags.

“I learned from him and I agree with him and I find it really interesting, you know. We’re all just people, we’re all so multifaceted. Why stick to one label or one thing? I think it can be empowering, don’t get me wrong, especially when those labels have been marginalised, but yeah, I think it’s much more interesting…” He trails off. “We’ve just met, there’s a million things I don’t know about you. You could tell me you’re queer, bi, pansexual, straight, whatever, but that doesn’t mean I would know you. There’s so much more to know about you than that.”

Is there a certain power in not being defined by a label like gay and straight? Is that how it feels? “Yeah, yeah,” says Hardy, thinking. “I don’t know if it’s powerful. I don’t know. I suppose my answer would be I don’t know. I’m just, you know, I’m Ben.”

So what are the “million things” to know about Ben Hardy? Well, he likes “to sit and bake” in the sun, I learned off the bat. An hour’s sun soak later we had a sweaty hug goodbye even though neither of us had moved. It’s a refreshingly unstarry approach to a skin regime, and yes, that is a bellwether for now ‘ordinary’ Hardy is given his fame. He likes to run around this park, to get “lost in the middle of greenery”, works out a lot, is a cinephile, and plays the joker among friends. One pic on his Instagram (not that bloody thing again) of him mucking about at Royal Ascot is captioned: “Another year of successfully lowering the tone.” Under another post advertising the watch brand Bremont, which has watches starting from £3,200, he’s written: “Finalllyyyy @bremontwatches have found someone who’ll add a little class to the brand.” “I try and be semi authentic with that,” he says about his social media persona.

He’s an open book, and incredibly direct, but never impolite, telling me a minute after we met the intricate details of his last flat share (I’d been sharing my London living woes.) He speaks in a baritone that only changes when he’s enraged or passionate. Growing up in a suburb outside of Bournemouth, Hardy went to an ordinary comprehensive school and was in part brought up by his working class dad who used to make films in his spare time. “This is very broad brushes, but often people from a working class background put the emphasis on getting a job that pays,” says Hardy. “He was very open to me trying something else.” After a series of injuries halted trials to become a rugby player, Hardy pursued drama, which he’d loved alongside sport, taking it to acting school aged 18 at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. His first job was on the London stage in Judas Kiss opposite Rupert Everett where Hardy stripped off fully naked, an experience he described as “nerve-wracking.” He landed the role of Peter Beale on EastEnders in 2015.

He’s grateful for the platform EastEnders gave him, but “in the nicest way, wouldn’t want to experience it again. You’re in someone’s living room four nights a week. I’ve never experienced anything like the fan attention.”

Mostly, he’s just an incredibly warm bloke you want to go down to the pub with. Tabloids run headlines about Hardy peddling the ‘EastEnders to Hollywood’ narrative but it makes him uncomfortable. “I mean, it’s not true,” he says. “Like, I wish I had as much money as people think I do. But don’t get me wrong, I’m very thankful to be doing something I love for a living and I do make a good living, but yeah, I’m not a millionaire. Which people often think.”

After a few months off, he’s looking forward to getting back to work. (As much as he loves recreational time, like most of us, he struggles to do nothing, and prides himself on a 9-6 daily programme of enrichment activities, from learning piano to working out, even when he’s off. Does he stick to it? Mainly.) In the future, he wants to do a few more “bid budget profile building” roles in order to help facilitate bringing more indies into the world, either as an actor or producer. “I’d love to be able to have the profile to be able to green light small budget movies, bring the story to the screen.”

Hardy is ultimately a pragmatist; something that grounds him. He’s taken to lying about his success when EastEnders fans – often in a silo and unaware of his broader career – ask him if he’s still acting. Forget Unicorns, role-playing the demise of his career may be his bravest part yet. “They’ll be looking at me and pitying me,” he says. “Sometimes I play a role, say it didn’t work out and I’m not acting anymore. I do it for myself, like a rehearsal for if that would ever happen. Ultimately, I’d like to not give a f*ck about acting profiles and jobs anyway. It’s hard not to be a desperate hungry actor. I think I’m constantly trying to not give a f*ck about that.”

VARIETY – British actor Ben Hardy, whose credits include “X-Men: Apocalypse,” “Bohemian Rhapsody” and Netflix’s “Love at First Sight,” is one of the leads in upcoming film “Unicorns.”

Co-directed by BAFTA nominee Sally El Hosaini (“The Swimmers”) and her long-standing collaborator James Krishna Floyd, from a script written by Floyd, the film follows a queer South Asian club performer (Jason Patel) living a double life who meets Luke, a straight, single-father mechanic, with whom unexpected sparks begin to fly.

Hardy, who plays Luke in the LGBTQ+ romantic drama, was drawn to the project by the unique story and the opportunity to work with director El Hosaini. “It was a challenging role for me, something I’d never played before,” Hardy said of portraying Luke, a working-class mechanic who enters the world of “gaysian” clubs in London.

“We spent hours and hours going through Luke, going through the script and story,” Hardy said. “To the point where we got to day one, I knew this story inside out. I feel like I really know this world and this story, and I’m ready to play it.”

Hardy initially had reservations about the co-directing arrangement, as he had signed on when El Hosaini was the sole director. “I was a bit like, ‘You guys [are] going to be arguing the whole time, how’s this going to work?’” Hardy said. However, his concerns were quickly dispelled. “They’re a couple in real life and their dynamic just seems to work. They have a good balanced relationship on set and offset. It was a joy to work with both of them.”

El Hosaini emphasized keeping Luke “very much in the moment,” which proved challenging for the forward-thinking actor. “She even bought me ‘The Power of Now’ by Eckhart Tolle to read,” Hardy revealed. “It was interesting playing someone very primitive and instinctive.”

The actor’s preparation included exploring Luke’s background and physicality as a mechanic. He also worked on Luke’s voice and movement, considering the physical toll of being a mechanic and the expectations of masculinity in Luke’s community.

Hardy intentionally limited his research into the gaysian scene, wanting his character’s reactions to be authentic. “I wanted my reaction to be as real as possible,” he said of Luke’s first encounter with the club scene. “I embraced my own ignorance and went on that journey with Luke learning about it.” The actor also enjoyed portraying Luke’s journey out of depression, crediting his co-star Patel for much of that character development.

“Unicorns” has received positive feedback since premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival last year. “Everyone who’s seen it seems to love it,” Hardy said.

Reflecting on his career choices, Hardy looks for original scripts, relatable characters and roles that challenge him. “I want to be nervous,” Hardy said. “I want to feel like this is something that I’m not sure if I can pull off and take on that challenge. I don’t want to play the same character over and over.”

Interestingly, Hardy likens acting to anthropology. “I think actors are, or I’ll speak for myself as an actor, I think it is very close to anthropology,” the actor said. “You just want to study humans and step inside their shoes. It’s like, what is there that I can bring my own life experience to, but also use the realm of imagination and research to explore and get a sense of what it would be like to be that person?”

Hardy’s path to acting began with amateur dramatics after a sports injury sidelined his athletic pursuits. “To be brutally honest, at a young age I was very much just an attention seeking little kid. I was always making a show and a dance,” Hardy said. He fell in love with the craft at drama school, describing acting as “an amazing job” despite its instability. “I get to play for a living,” Hardy said. “As far as a way of making a living, I feel incredibly fortunate to be able to do this, to still be playing around like I was as a kid playing make-believe.”

Since Toronto, “Unicorns” has had a stellar festival run, with playdates at BFI London, Flare, Goteborg, Palm Springs and Sydney. Protagonist is handling international sales. Signature Entertainment is releasing the film across the U.K. and Ireland on July 5.

We finally have the trailer! In UK theaters July 5th!

VARIETY – Signature Entertainment has acquired the U.K. and Irish rights to “Unicorns,” the romance drama co-directed by BAFTA nominee Sally El Hosaini (“The Swimmers”) and her long-standing collaborator James Krishna Floyd, who starred in both “The Swimmers” and her directorial debut “My Brother the Devil.”

From a script written by Floyd, “Unicorns” is described as a “visually daring and heartfelt portrayal of modern masculinity” and follows a queer South Asian club performer living a double life who meets a straight, single-father mechanic, with whom unexpected sparks begin to fly. The film stars Ben Hardy (“Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Love at First Sight”), newcomer Jason Patel, Nisha Nayar (“Buddha of Suburbia”), Hannah Onslow (“Empire of Light”) and Sagar Radia (“Industry”).

“We are thrilled to have Signature bring ‘Unicorns’ to U.K. and Irish cinemas where we know audiences will enjoy our unique, timely, but above all entertaining film,” said El-Hosaini and Floyd.

“Unicorns,” which premiered in Toronto and recently screened at the Palm Springs Film Festival, is a Maven Screen Media, River Road Entertainment and Chromatic Aberration production. The producers are Philip Herd (“My Policeman,” “We Need to Talk About Kevin”), Trudie Styler (“The Kindergarten Teacher,” “American Honey”), Celine Rattray (“American Honey,” “The Kids Are All Right”), Bill Pohlad (“12 Years a Slave,” “Brokeback Mountain”), Kim Roth (“Sorry to Bother You,” “Mudbound”) and Christa Workman (“David Byrne’s American Utopia,” “Dreamin’ Wild”). Asifa Lahore (“Faces”) co-produced the film and has also been a consultant, and Stephen Daldry (“Billy Elliot,” “The Hours”) serves as executive producer.

The deal was negotiated between Elizabeth Williams, Signature Entertainment’s head of acquisitions and TV, and Protagonist Pictures‘ acting head of sales Lina Marrone.

“We could immediately tell ‘Unicorns’ was something special with Ben Hardy and Jason Patel’s notable chemistry, and we’re delighted to release this fearless and powerful romance to U.K. and Irish theatrical audiences later this year,” they said in a statement.