Tom Blyth and Russell Tovey star as lovers in thrilling gay drama 'Plainclothes'

In 2016, filmmaker Carmen Emmi read an article in the L.A. Times. It depicted police officers who would go undercover and lure men into exposing themselves in public bathrooms in order to make an arrest. At the same time, Emmi's brother was becoming a police officer, and he was in the process of coming out as gay.

For almost 10 years, Emmi worked to bring the story to life, in what would become his debut feature-length film, "Plainclothes."

"Plainclothes" stars Tom Blyth and Russell Tovey in a gritty depiction of queerness. It's set in 1990s New York, exploring the cruising culture of the time, with Blyth playing the role of a closeted undercover cop, and Tovey playing his next target.

On The Red Carpet caught up with the cast and crew at Sundance Film festival, where the film won the Special Jury Award for Ensemble Cast.

Emmi told us, "This is my dream. This has been my dream since I was a kid. To get to premiere my first feature that I wrote and I directed at this festival is the biggest honor of my life."

"I think we spotted in each other a kinship in wanting to tell authentic, honest, truthful, necessary, vital stories, and the script just sings, so it was really easy for us to connect," said Tovey about working with Blyth.

He went on to say, "It's a queer movie, but all the themes in it are universal - Love, unrequited love, lost love, desire, passion, pleasure - It's humanity."

Co-star Christian Cooke echoed the same sentiments. "This is a sort of coming of age, coming out film, but it is more than that, I think it's... Getting to a stage in your life where you feel like you're no longer willing to hide in the shadows or harbor a secret."

The film also stars Maria Dizzia, Amy Forsyth, Gabe Fazio, John Bedford Lloyd, Darius Fraser and Alessandra Balazs.

"Plainclothes" opens in theaters beginning September 19 in New York City and select theaters nationwide in the following weeks.