They are not actors, in their job they don’t speak.’ ‘I wanted to dramatize was the way in those early years young men who weren’t comfortably out of the closet, weren’t talking about AIDS, so dancers were the perfect choice. An object of beauty, very erotic and beautiful and then that same body is threatened by the disease. ‘Dance is all about the body, you see the body in these two contrasting ways. ‘I had a dance background so I was drawing from a lot of personal experience,’ he said.
Johnson’s history as a dancer informed the film, as the male dancers take centre stage with several erotic and exciting dance sequences throughout the film. ‘That’s one of the challenges that we’ve had in marketing is that when people think about this subject they think about a certain kind of dark, depressing film and that’s not what Test is.’ ‘It’s a very hopeful and uplifting film,’ he said.
Johnson revealed to GSN his film about AIDS is actually a very uplifting one, something audiences have learned not to expect. There are many films documenting the effect of the AIDS crisis in the 80s, but almost none of them have done so like new film Test.Ī group of young dancers deal with the competitive, erotic world of dance and the then unknown dangers of AIDS simultaneously.ĭirector Chris Mason Johnson sat down with Gay Star News to discuss his dance background which inspired the film, and why it was so hard to make.
