“Minx” wants you to get used to seeing male nudity on screen.
The HBO Max comedy, which premiered Thursday, is overflowing with nudity; an early scene is, quite literally, a lineup of naked men. But unlike most shows, the full-frontal exposure serves a purpose: in the early ‘70s, long before the sexual revolution and the ease of Pornhub, idealist Joyce (Ophelia Lovibond) and pornography publisher Doug (Jake Johnson) have decided to start an erotic magazine for women, Minx.
Doug wants the nudity. Joyce wants an outlet to write about women’s rights. Together, they form the oddest partnership, but one that works nonetheless.
“Almost in the same way Doug says (the magazine) is hiding the dog medicine in peanut butter, we’re doing that with the show,” Jessica Lowe, who plays Bambi, a former centerfold model who takes on new job responsibilities at Minx, told the Daily News.
Despite being set in the ‘70s —pantsuits, feathered hair and all — “Minx” sounds a lot like it would today. Joyce wants to talk about abortion and rape, about women in the workplace and about sexual harassment. The country club is littered with balding old white men who can’t imagine having a conversation with a woman about anything more than what’s for dinner.
“There are conversations around what we are allowed to talk about or things that normally would be taboo, especially in America where we tie our pants all the way up to our necks,” Lennon Parham, who plays Joyce’s sister, Shelly, told The News.
“Minx” doesn’t just talk about the issues. It celebrates them. The very act of discussion is applauded from inside a seedy publishing house that gets raided by officials on a regular basis.
“Pre-internet era, where you can’t find anything online, when you are curious about your sexuality or your body or even just feminism period, you read this magazine and you suddenly feel like ‘oh, I’m not the only one,’” Oscar Montoya, who plays a Minx photographer, told The News.
The nude scenes were shot with care. An intimacy coordinator was on set at all times and there was always a reason for someone to disrobe. Eventually, it became commonplace for the cast; Lowe jokingly called it exposure therapy.
“You see naked bodies but somehow they’re not sexualized, even though we’re talking about sex,” Idara Victor, who plays no-nonsense office secretary Tina, told The News.
“It’s a human body and we can have fun talking about it. We can have fun celebrating it.”
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