What’s It Like to Direct Your Mom in a Sex Scene? Damian and Elizabeth Hurley Discuss Their New Film, ‘Strictly Confidential’

In all of Sigmund Freud’s psychosexual musings, he likely never imagined the circumstance that Damian and Elizabeth Hurley created when filming the movie Strictly Confidential: a son directing his mother in a sex scene. “It’s interesting, people are getting very up in arms about this,” Damian tells Vogue, glancing over at Elizabeth. The mother-son duo are Zooming in from the same screen, seated shoulder-to-shoulder in front of a poshly decorated mantle. “It’s just showbiz.”

As a teenager processing his friend’s death from suicide, Damian found catharsis in creating what would eventually become his directorial debut. “It was quite healing. Sitting down and writing this properly sort of closed a chapter,” he says. The film, a “sensual thriller with a devilish twist,” as it’s described by distributor Lionsgate, centers on Mia (Georgia Lock), a young woman struggling to cope with her best friend Rebecca’s (Lauren McQueen) suicide. One year later, Mia reunites with Rebecca’s friends and family on the Caribbean island where the tragedy unfolded. “I think it will resonate with a lot of people who’ve been touched [by suicide], but I also hope, mixed in with that, people can also enjoy [a] sexy, glorious, gorgeous film,” Damian says.

Despite the heavy subject matter, the film—which will have a limited theatrical release beginning April 5—is rife with illicit trysts. One such taboo romance involves Elizabeth’s Lily, who is engaged in a passionate affair with her late daughter’s friend, Natasha (Pear Chiravara). But Damian didn’t write the script with the intention of directing his mother in a queer sex scene. In earlier drafts, Elizabeth’s character was a man, but after Damian was approached by Lionsgate to write and direct the film, he had second thoughts. “I started thinking, How can I make it sexier? And just thought, Oh my God, what if it’s a woman?” he says. “Of course, the second I had that part, it made total sense to beg—beg—my mighty mother to come on board.”