Gregg Araki has a message for Gen Z about enjoying their sexual prime.
Promoting his film I Want Your Sex ahead of its Friday (July 31) theatrical release, the 66-year-old director asserted that Gen Z needs to be more adventurous.
"Like, why don't you have sex? What's going on? Sex is a huge part of my life. My journey as a person, as an artist—it's all tied to sex, sexual experiences, relationships. All my movies are about that. I can't comprehend life without it," Araki said at the opening night of OutfestNEXT in Los Angeles last week, per Variety.
"You're gonna turn around, and you're going to be 40, 50 like that. Will you regret not taking a chance, venturing out of your house, risking getting hurt, getting confused, getting your heart broken?” he continued. “Go out on a bad date, have that bad relationship, have that bad girlfriend. Be in love with the wrong person. That's fucking life! That's growing up! That's how you learn about yourself."
In a separate interview with The New Yorker published this week, Araki brought up aging as the reason that Gen Z should be more promiscuous.
"You guys are the FOMO generation, but you don't care that you're missing out on the sexual prime of your life,” he explained. “You're gonna be 50 years old one day, and are you gonna look back and go, 'What was I fucking thinking? When I was young and beautiful, I was fucking sitting in my room texting people when I could have been out falling in love, getting my heart broken.'"
I Want Your Sex stars Olivia Wilde and Cooper Hoffman alongside Charli xcx, Mason Gooding, Chase Sui Wonders, Daveed Diggs, Margaret Cho, and Johnny Knoxville.
