Plainclothes: Here’s your first look at Tom Blyth and Russell Tovey’s queer drama

The first set of images from Tom Blyth and Russell Tovey’s upcoming queer drama has arrived.

Back in March, Variety revealed that The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes star and Looking talent were cast in the new independent film by writer and director Carmen Emmi.  

Set in the 90s, Plainclothes follows Lucas (Blyth), “a working-class undercover officer” who is tasked with entrapping and apprehending gay men, only to find himself drawn to one of his targets (Tovey).

Maria Dizzia, Christian Cooke, Gabe Fazio and Amy Forsyth make up the supporting cast.

“Plainclothes is a heartfelt story that deals with internal conflict, family, and the complexities of sexual identity in the face of societal and personal expectations. We are excited to bring his first screenplay to life with this incredible cast,” producers Colby Cote and Arthur Landon told the publication at the time.

Since that fateful day, news surrounding the film has been kept under wraps… until now.

On 11 December, The Sundance Film Festival announced that Plainclothes would be featured in its stacked lineup of films for next year’s event – which is kicking off on 23 January 2025.

Alongside its place in the festival program, the organisation shared three new photos from the highly anticipated film.

In one first-look image, Blyth is shown intensely staring at Tovey’s character, Andrew, in the mirror.

Sundance Film Festival

Another snapshot – which has a retro VHS effect – features the dreamy actors participating in a passionate face-to-face standoff.

In a featurette posted on Sundance’s website, Emmi gave insight into his creative process for Plainclothes and how its story came to fruition.

“I first got the idea in 2016, when I read an article in the Los Angeles Times about undercover police officers who were arresting men in a Long Beach park bathroom,” he explained.

“Around that time, when I read the article, my brother was becoming a police officer and through my conversations with him and thinking about my own coming out experince, the character of Lucas was born.”

Sundance Film Festival

Emmi also opened up about setting the film in his hometown of Syracuse, New York.

“I wrote it here. I set it here in the 90s, which was around the time that I started suppressing my feelings as a boy. I think that I made this as a way for my 7-year-old self to finally exhale,” he added.

For more information on how to watch Plainclothes at The 2025 Sundance Film Festival, click here.

As of this writing, a wide release date for the film has yet to be announced.

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