François Arnaud on ‘Heated Rivalry’ Success and Defending His Costars

[This story contains spoilers from the first season of HBO Max‘s Heated Rivalry.]

“It made me really feel like I’m fucking historic,” François Arnaud jokes.

The 40-year-old Heated Rivalry star is way from historic, however he definitely is the elder determine on the Jacob Tierney-helmed HBO Max-Crave hockey romance collection. Arnaud performs Scott Hunter, a veteran skilled participant, who very like the recent confronted rookies, Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) on the heart of the present, bears the load of being a closeted skilled hockey participant.

Scott’s story, Sport Changer, is the primary e book in Heated Rivalry’s supply materials, a string of novels by creator Rachel Reid set in the identical universe. Within the penultimate episode of season one, launched Dec. 19, Scott actually modifications the sport of hockey — pun meant — by publicly popping out after profitable the championship, kissing his love curiosity Kip Grady on the ice. It offers the youthful gamers the push they should get collectively for actual — thanks, Scott — and it affords one other queer expertise totally different than that of the principle plot.

To cite a number of followers on-line, Arnaud’s character Scott is basically the universe’s homosexual hockey godfather. “It supplies perspective on what it means to remain, to maintain {that a} secret for longer and the load, the toll that it takes and the emotional availability of being older in that house,” Arnaud explains.

It’s simply days earlier than Christmas, and the actor sits casually in a convention room at The Hollywood Reporter’s L.A. workplace. He’s calm and charming, sharing his upcoming vacation plans. Taking a while to lastly sign off the web appears to be a precedence.

“It’s bizarre. I really feel like I’ve been an up-and-coming actor my complete life and I simply changed into a veteran in three weeks,” he says. “I’m like, oh, God, I really feel like Ian McKellen.”

Beneath, the actor shares his ideas on Scott’s future, why he speaks his thoughts concerning the intrusion in actors’ non-public lives and adjusting to this new degree of stardom.

Everybody might be so bored with listening to me say they should watch the present.

It’s loopy. I feel persons are stunned. It’s loopy how a lot press the present obtained surrounding the sexiness and the smuttiness of it, the place I really feel like that’s actually not why persons are watching now.

It’s a small half at this level.

To be truthful, it’s form of how they hook you within the first two [episodes], however it’s so far more than that, I feel.

That’s what [showrunner] Jacob Tierney informed me at first, that you just have been going to get us with the intercourse, however then the center goes to sneak in. I really feel like that’s what your character actually does.

Actually he’s the primary one to do it. I feel it offers permission to the opposite guys to go there as properly.

What have been your ideas going into the third episode after you noticed the response to episodes one and two? Folks have been getting so invested within the Ilya-Shane story. Have been you nervous?

Slightly bit.

Have been you anxious about how they have been going to react?

I feel I’ve talked about {that a} bit, and I didn’t wish to preempt that worry or that response an excessive amount of. I feel I appreciated the actual fact — as an viewers member and an artist and actor or no matter, somebody who likes films and TV — I really like that Jacob permits himself to do this. To type of throw us a whole curveball. I by no means thought of that after I learn it. If something, I believed that it was form of a breath of recent air after the sexual pressure of the primary [episodes]. Then after I noticed the web response to the primary two, I used to be like, “Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck, yeah, persons are going to need extra of those two after which simply be reticent or reluctant to take us in.” I’m positive there have been [some] individuals who did really feel that method, however I feel for the [most] half I’ve obtained tons of extremely heat responses. I definitely miss [Shane and Ilya] too each time we’re on display, however I feel to offer a window into one other type of expertise took lots of people unexpectedly. I feel the individuals who have been in for it have been rewarded.

Scott’s story specifically, to go off what you’re saying, nearly feels prefer it’s for a distinct part of the viewers in a method. Myself, as a queer particular person, I had quite a lot of emotions on the storyline that I felt I resonated with. I think about you, as an overtly queer particular person your self, it’d carry a distinct weight.

Are you able to inform me what sort of distinction it carried for you?

I feel I associated to it extra. Particularly as somebody who got here out later than most of my buddies and clued in on myself later than most of my buddies.

Yeah, I’ve obtained quite a lot of these feedback definitely.

I felt that in that method, it resonated otherwise with me. However I’m questioning the way it resonated for you.

I feel these two issues are complementary. I’ll reply your query in a second. I feel definitely some individuals relate extra to the Shane and Ilya couple and others to Scott and Kip. However actually what I feel the brilliance of Jacob’s screenwriting is that regardless of the place you stand on that spectrum, all of it comes collectively to make a extra full expertise as a viewer

I relate to it in a method that … Hear, I feel I’ve given so much to have this profession and to stay this ardour of mine that has been on the forefront of each single considered one of my ideas since I used to be a youngster. Everybody’s expertise is totally different. It felt like in my life, there was definitely a time the place it was simpler to only form of not … Properly, to cross, I suppose. To make use of a dated time period, perhaps.

I perceive.

I didn’t actually really feel the necessity to confront these issues for some time. Then for quite a lot of causes that belongs to each profession and private life, there was a second the place I simply felt prefer it wasn’t definitely worth the effort or the psychological toll that it was taking over me. I believed it will make me a extra trustworthy performer if I used to be in a position to simply let that go.

That was my biggest worry, and that’s why I’m type of so reluctant to speak about these items is as a result of I don’t need it to imply that it’s an open door to speak about my non-public life, as a result of I do consider within the worth of privateness, and I don’t consider that persons are entitled to know something about an actor’s non-public life. For me, it required a little bit of juggling, and I’m somebody who likes and who can’t assist however voice my opinions on quite a lot of issues. (Laughs.)

I recognize it, truly. I don’t suppose you should speak about your non-public life; I’m of that very same perception.

So I would like to have the ability to try this, in addition to lend my authenticity to roles that I tackle, all types of roles that I wish to tackle. I don’t wish to be restricted by something.

There’s one thing concerning the second that Scott finds himself in his life in that third episode that actually deeply moved me and I linked with on a right away degree. I felt like there’s nothing to arrange for this other than studying to tie my skates correctly and look rather less silly doing it. However apart from that, I used to be similar to, “Oh God, I’m able to say these phrases. Possibly it’s too intense,” like [Scott’s] complete spiel to Kip on the kitchen counter. I consider in exhibiting up in that method, and I wish to try this in my very own life. That is the form of relationship and connection that I’m eager about.

I feel it’s a welcome addition to the canon of queer experiences which might be seen on tv. The entire present is about that. Greater than about gayness, truly, it’s about masculinity and the foreign money that it’s. How we’re taught as males to restrict the vulnerability that we’re exhibiting different individuals. I feel that the entire present is cracking that cookie, dismantling that and offering totally different home windows onto that.

You hit on one thing I wish to speak about, which is that you just like to talk your thoughts and wish to speak about issues.

For now. I is likely to be going again into my shell in a couple of day.

There may be this concept that as a shopper of media, you’re in some way entitled to know particulars about an individual’s non-public life. You commenting again to DeuxMoi (“If you happen to’re going to be posting unauthorized recordings of individuals’s non-public lives, perhaps not less than get the title of the film proper?”) was an instance of pushing again on that. Why is it so vital so that you can try this?

It’s form of two birds, one stone truly, as a result of that film that I used to be selling that day (FuckToys) is one thing that I actually consider in. For them to get the title flawed, I used to be like, “Properly, are you able to get us distribution then? Are you able to assist us? Are you able to make it helpful to us in case you’re going to …” I don’t know. I imply, it’s simply mind-boggling to me that this type of intrusion into private life remains to be accepted in 2025 after individuals like Equipment Connor was bullied out of the closet in a method that he wasn’t prepared for. Is that the illustration that we would like? I don’t suppose so. I used to be questioning which remark you have been going to deliver up.

Properly, I imply, your remark, “Ought to the intercourse that closeted hockey gamers have seem like the intercourse that sceney L.A. homosexual guys have?” was additionally fairly good.

Once more, that was not a diss to any explicit department of the group.

I don’t suppose it got here off as that.

Not solely ought to we be allowed to indicate quite a lot of experiences, we must always crave that and need that. It ought to all be celebrated and never simply — the present is about closeted hockey gamers, it’s a hypermasculine world. That’s the purpose. If you happen to don’t wish to see that, then to every his personal, proper?

I spoke with Chala Hunter, your intimacy coordinator, who identified that there isn’t any common expertise. That is one sliver of the queer expertise.

That’s additionally what being an actor is. Being particular, taking over an individual’s actuality that might don’t have anything to do with your personal and making an attempt to make it private and inject quite a lot of issues. That’s why the query of illustration for me is a tough one as a result of there’s … I feel our duty is to the characters and the story and to deliver fact to that. And, after all, enrich it with all the pieces that you would be able to deliver from your personal lived expertise, nevertheless it’s inside the realm of the style, which isn’t a documentary. It’s fantasy, and we’re high-quality with that. We all the time knew [that]. I really like how Jacob has spoken about that.

Me too. I actually recognize that the present takes it critically.

Sure, completely. [Jacob] takes on the supply materials and honors it and honors individuals’s love for it. I feel on tv, and likewise in their very own lives, persons are eager for masculine figures of vulnerability and people who find themselves keen to go there. Actually, that’s what I’m on the lookout for with my relations, with my buddies. We’ve all been raised to close down. I feel it wants quite a lot of work to continually chip at these partitions, and I feel the present does that brilliantly.

You’ve defended your coworkers, Hudson and Connor, by saying they’ve been well-known for a short time and to provide them a break. Do you end up leaping into that as a result of you’re the veteran of the solid?

No, it simply occurs to be Hudson and Connor on this place now, nevertheless it’s not truly about them. What I’m saying is it’s about all of us. It’s about what our duty is as actors, as individuals who tackle these tales and who give a lot to that for months on finish. It’s a way more common thought concerning the worth of our contribution, the duty that it entails. I suppose after I say they’ve been well-known for 9 days, and simply are you able to give them a break, that sounds fairly particularly about them, nevertheless it’s actually fed by my common ideas on the matter and probably not about them.

You’ve been well-known for a bit greater than 9 days.

I’m not well-known ever. I’ve been a working actor who has been fortunate sufficient to have many alternatives to work on inspiring items of labor. I had little durations of scrutiny into my non-public life, however by no means on the extent that they’re getting now, or that I’m getting now.

What are you feeling now? This a part of issues remains to be a really new expertise for you.

There’s a little bit of a whiplash. After having been in and given a lot to initiatives that perhaps we thought or have been far more poised to be big than this was, being a smaller Canadian present, that’s taught me a lot usually because I don’t actually consider the consequence anymore. It’s taught me to understand on daily basis on set, the camaraderie, the group work, the introspective work too, of being an actor and making ready and all that. I not often take into consideration the consequence anymore.

For this shock to return and for doing one thing that occurs to resonate culturally and be a part of the zeitgeist, it’s form of superb. It’s like, nice, that’s what you do it for. You do it to succeed in individuals, and that is reaching individuals on an enormous degree, so I’m not going to complain. It’s a enjoyable second. I can’t wait to sign off the web for 2 weeks tomorrow.

How on-line are you?

Properly, I’m going to delete Instagram right now or tomorrow. Possibly obtain it once more for episode six after which delete it once more till the New 12 months, for positive, or after I come again [to L.A.]. I feel that regardless of [Connor and Hudson’s] inexperience with that and their youth and everyone’s form of new expertise with that degree of success, I feel that we’re all, at first dedicated to our craft and anxious to return in and reconnect with why we wish to do that. It is a unusual a part of the job that we’re grateful for and excited by, and it’s enjoyable.

Scott and Kip definitely have components in different books, together with The Lengthy Sport. How would you like his story to proceed?

Hear, I don’t know, and I feel nobody does. I don’t suppose even Jacob does, to be trustworthy. I feel he’s a bit shell-shocked by the entire thing.

I can think about.

He’s planning to take day off the vacations after which return and begin writing in January. Thus far, the primary season has been a devoted adaptation of the books. Now, whether or not that modifications for the longer term, who’s to say. The conversations I had with him have been previous to all this, six weeks in the past or two months in the past. I don’t know whether or not we get our personal little factor.

Would you wish to?

Possibly a TV film, or one thing shorter. I don’t know. Our story is extra of a basic rom-com arc. It all the time jogged my memory of Notting Hill for the way in which it offers with fame and all that. We obtained that large second. Do we would like a soapy model of them combating over Kip not cleansing the smoothie blender? Possibly. I don’t know. I feel it will be attention-grabbing to show that on its head and make it hyperreal, versus aspirational prefer it’s been. I’d be curious to see that. I’m working as a free agent. We’ll see what occurs, and we’ll see if we’re all on the identical web page.

What would you like individuals to remove from this present?

I’ve obtained messages from individuals who informed me that their son got here out to them due to our episode, and that it form of modified their response to it too. Am I ever hoping that fiction work has that form of actual life impact? I really feel prefer it’d be conceited to say that. I simply hope in all the pieces else that I partake in, it’s like an empathy creating machine and that it makes individuals softer, extra forgiving, tender and extra empathetic to no matter different individuals have occurring.