It's the Freakin' Weekend

A weekend hookup is turning out to have some long-term potential for Tom Cullen, the 25-year- old star of Weekend, Andrew Haigh's very up- lose-and-personal look at a whirlwind romance between two gay 20-somethings in the provincial city of Nottingham, England. The understated love story was the sleeper hit of SXSW, where it debuted in March, and will open this month in New York followed by a nationwide release. The London-based Cullen, who is currently filming the miniseries World Without End with Cynthia Nixon and Peter Firth in Budapest, recently took some time to fill us in on the details of his wild Weekend.

At this point, are you and co-star Chris New very close?
We're very good friends now. During filming we stayed in a flat together and you'd think it'd be really intense but it wasn't at all. People talk about our good chemistry and I think that comes from the fact that we actually got on and had a great laugh together.

Yes, we felt the chemistry too. Especially during the rather risqué sex scenes!
I think the reason the sex scenes seem so graphic is because you feel like you're watching a real relationship -- it's almost voyeuristic. You don't actually see that much but when I first saw it I was like, "Oh my God this is very intense." It's not glossy. It's just a bit rough and ready.

Have you ever had a whirlwind romance?
Yes... haven't we all? You meet people every weekend and you never see them again but I carry them with me everywhere I go. And they probably don't even know it.

Weekend is in theaters now.