Joel Kim Booster Talks Nudity on HBO's Industry
Joel Kim Booster hopes people write fan fiction about his naked ‘Industry’ sauna scene: “One of the hardest things to do is look hot naked while sitting.”https://t.co/AkhI7BxKgp
- VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) August 26, 2024
Joel Kim Booster spoke with Vanity Fair about his one-episode guest appearance on HBO's Industry where his character was fully nude during a sauna scene. Booster guest starred as Frank Wade, a Pierpoint employee who has to publish a buy-or-sell recommendation on Lumi, the green energy company run by Kit Harington’s character.
-A fan of the show since 2021, he was approached by the co-creators. “They had this part written and they came to me and said, ‘There’s this creep in a steam room and we immediately thought of you.’ I guess the brand is strong [...] They said very early on that [this nude scene] would be a requirement. It was included with the offer, like, ‘Are you cool with that?’”
-“I was more nervous about stepping into a prestige HBO drama than I was about the nudity [...] Professionally, this was a big deal for me to be taken seriously as an actor and have people believe that I can do a pretty grounded, dramatic, serious part that’s not comedy heavy.”
-"Didn't really dawn on me until right before we shot. All of my nudes that have leaked online previously, it is my hard penis, okay? With a flaccid penis, there's a lot of variables at play. It can look a lot of different ways. Stress is a big factor in that. I woke up and I was like, ‘I cannot think about this because the more I think about this, the more I will spiral.’ And then you lose control of what's going on down there. I will say Harry Lawtey, who plays Robert on the show, is who I filmed the bulk of my scenes with. [He was] so nice, so welcoming, made me feel truly a part of the team at Industry. He has also been in my position doing full-frontal, and I couldn't have had a better scene partner who put me at ease and just really made me able to focus on actually doing that scene and not be thinking about what's going on downstairs."
-On the ambiguity of what happens between his and Harry Lawtey's character: "And I think what we all decided with the director and Harry is that the ambiguity is a bit more interesting, especially for Harry's character in that moment. It’s like, “what did he do to then not get what he wanted?” They leave the audience to fill in the blanks depending on how they feel about Harry's character and their imagination of what Harry's character would do for Pierpoint. I think it's more interesting than making the decision that he's going to whore himself out or not. Leaving it hanging in the air like that, I think, is really fun. I hope that people are writing fanfiction about us."
-Has his own thoughts on what happened: "I’ve changed my mind a couple of times. [...] Ultimately, I think they did maybe start to hook up and then I don't think Robert-as sexually progressive as he is and horny as he is and as much as he loves Pierpoint-I think he wasn't able to really go through with it. Frank is a vindictive gay guy and that is part of why the ending happened the way it did. [laughs] But leaving it plenty wide open for a return at some point. Who knows where this character is going to go next? Maybe a spinoff show, maybe not. You never know."
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