Daniel Radcliffe: Everyone Needs To Chill Out About My Gay Sex Scene

The 23-year-old tells MTV News there's nothing "shocking" about the sex in his Sundance drama, "Kill Your Darlings"

PARK CITY, Utah — Before, during and after the Sundance Film Festival premiere of "Kill Your Darlings" on Friday night (January 18), all anyone could talk about, so it seemed, was Daniel Radcliffe's sexual escapades.

Maybe it was because this erotically charged Beat Generation drama represents the 23-year-old's most high-profile film since he graduated from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Or, perhaps, it had something to do with the fact that in "Darlings," he plays the poet Allen Ginsberg and spends a fair amount of the film making out, having gay sex and masturbating.

Daniel Radcliffe Thinks Attention To 'Kill Your Darlings' Gay Sex Scene Is 'Strange'

But here's the thing: Radcliffe is totally cool with all of it — and he doesn't understand why so many others aren't.

"It's interesting that it's deemed shocking," he told MTV News. "For me, there's something very strange about that because we see straight sex scenes all the time. We've seen gay sex scenes before. I don't know why a gay sex scene should be any more shocking than a straight sex scene. Or both of them are equally un-shocking."

That Radcliffe has such an enlightened perspective on these matters is no surprise, considering the Brit has been an outspoken proponent of gay rights, working closely over the years with the Trevor Project, a nonprofit organization focused on crisis support and suicide prevention for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youths.

As Radcliffe walked the jam-packed red carpet at the Eccles Theatre on Friday and answered a seemingly unending series of questions about his sex scenes, he wanted to remind everyone that he starred in a Broadway play in which he mutilates horses and stands naked on stage. What's the more provocative performance?

"What weirded me out the most last night was people were asking me all these questions about the gay sex scenes. I was like, 'You know I did'Equus?' " Radcliffe laughed. "Some people are asking me questions like this is a more shocking subject, which is so strange."

Strange, and possibly more uncomfortable than shooting the sex scene itself. "We didn't really have time to feel awkward," he explained. "I think we shot the thing in about an hour, hour and a half or something like that. You just kind of had to get it done. I'm trying to avoid using phrasing that could slip into innuendo!"