DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

THE CUCKOLD crawled out of that same subconscious primordial soup a lot of first time films spawn from– a filmmaker’s overwhelming need to tell a story they feel hasn’t been properly told onscreen...yet.

For me it was seeing subjects like race or sex tackled many different ways- and often to wonderful effect - but rarely seeing them both intertwined. And rarely is anything associated with race explored in modern times.

As you can imagine the subject of THE CUCKOLD - two suburban wives that are exploring their attraction to single black men – seemed rife with potential to cover new ground regarding racial tensions. Even the word ‘cuckold’ has evolved from something to be avoided (‘the spouse of a cheating wife’) to the modern definition of the male half (often white) of a ‘swinging’ couple that brings other males (often black) into their bedroom.

The ‘promise of the premise’ was too perfect to ignore.

Of course, this is a double-edged sword. Being a low budget feature with no ‘name’ talent attached it could quickly get lumped in with soft-core porn. That’s why the producer and I felt beholden to our viewers to explore the story in good taste, keeping a provocative edge to be sure, but using ‘less is more’ as our mantra for the sexual elements of the film.

All in all we think we’ve succeeded in telling a story wound tight with racial and sexual tension and intrigue that you haven’t seen onscreen before…and we hope you enjoy it.

Jonathan Corban Butler