Margaret Qualley says she channelled this well-known male pop star for her new queer detective role
Margaret Qualley at the Cannes Film Festival premiere of Honey, Don’t! (Sameer Al-Doumy/Getty)
Margaret Qualley at the Cannes Film Festival premiere of Honey, Don't! (Sameer Al-Doumy/Getty)
Margaret Qualley says she channelled a certain pop star for her role as a queer detective in the upcoming Honey, Don’t! But if we gave you 10 guesses, the chances are you wouldn’t be able to name them.
It was The 1975 frontman Matty Healy!
Drive-Away Dolls star Qualley told Cosmopolitan that Healy’s demeanour was key to getting into character for lesbian detective Honey O’Donahue.
“My character is very confident and talkative,” she said. “She’s not a woman of few words. Sometimes I’ve made myself comfortable by knocking myself down. [Honey] is the opposite of that. She’s in her power and smart and sexy. She’s a bit like a cool-guy player.
“I don’t know why, but for some reason I made my physicality kind of like Matty Healy.
“I tried to do it like Matty would… got to feel what it would be like to be a guy hitting on a girl.”
Healy has become known for his on-stage antics. The son of Loose Women‘s Denise Welch, he courted controversy last year after kissing bassist Ross MacDonald during a live gig in Malaysia, then going on to criticise the country’s anti-LGBTQ+ laws.
Homosexuality is illegal in Malaysia, punishable by up to 20 years in prison and possible caning.
‘I love the gays, thank you’
Directed by Oscar-winner Ethan Coen, the new film follows Honey investigating a possible cult. Police officer MG Falcone (Agatha All Along‘s Aubrey Plaza) joins her as the investigation leads to a series of strange deaths tied to a mysterious church.
When asked whether she realised she had a “big queer fan base”, Qualley replied: “I love the gays, thank you.”
Speaking about the on-screen romance between Honey and MG, Plaza said: “It’s a soul-mate kind of love, a dangerous love.”
Captain America‘s Chris Evans plays the head of the suspected cult, and gay star Billy Eichner and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s Charlie Day are also in the cast.
Honey Don’t! is the second film in a “lesbian B-movie trilogy”, following on from Drive-Away Dolls, and is due to open in the UK on 22 August.
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