David Tennant has joined the cast of love triangle comedy The Joys of Sex.
The movie, which will tell the story of how the scandalous sex manual published by Alex Comfort in 1972 came to be written, is being led by Colin Firth (The King’s Speech), Julianne Moore (May December), and Laura Linney (Ozark).
Tennant, who’s best known for appearing in Doctor Who, will also feature in the cast alongside Jason Watkins (The Crown) and Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread).
The Joys of Sex, which was the first popular book in the English language to explain and celebrate the art of love making, became a huge international bestseller when it was published in 1972. The book broke new ground with its graphic images and focus on mutual fulfilment.
The film, which has been written by Sharon Maguire and Lise Mayer, will focus on the love triangle between Comfort (Firth), his wife, Ruth (Linney), and her best friend from university, Jane (Moore), a librarian who became Comfort’s lover, and chart the story of how the sex manual was born.
“This unconventional throuple in the quiet suburbs of North London challenged societal norms, lasting 10 years,” the synopsis teases.
“It was the laboratory where recipes outlined in the book, as well as the instantly recognisable hand-drawn sketches of hirsute hippies having sex, were born. The book was erotic, funny, and wholesome, reinventing sex and love for ordinary people and giving them permission to enjoy sex for the first time ever.”
Maguire, who’s best known for the Bridget Jones movies, previously told The Guardian of the comedy: “In a way, it’s a film about what made the Bridget Jones generation, because her parents would have probably read The Joy of Sex.”
She added: “But we didn’t have it in my house, growing up, because it was Irish Catholic. Sex wasn’t mentioned, never mind a book about it.”
The script is written by Sharon Maguire and Lise Mayer.
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