John Lithgow, 79, was so amped to get naked in new movie Jimpa, says director

John Lithgow couldn’t wait to strip down for his latest role in “Jimpa.”When the 79-year-old actor learned he’d have to take off his clothes in the 2025 drama that premiered Thursday at the Sundance Film Festival, he couldn’t wait, according to the flick’s director, Sophie Hyde.“John was so amped to do everything that was required, in terms of fulfilling this character and making the film,” Hyde told Entertainment Weekly at the festival in an article published Friday.“He was so excited by the idea of Jim, who he was, and the idea that he would get naked all the time.

That was part of what appealed to John.”“He was like, ‘I feel like it’s fantastic that he would be naked in the first few minutes of the film, and then it’s like whatever.Who cares? We now know who the character is.'”It was “not difficult at all” to get Lithgow to strip for the role, the “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande” director continued, adding that the star embraced the idea from the onset of their work together.“John just comes at character with this huge gusto.

He’s so excited, so rich and deep in his exploration, and part of that was being naked,” Hyde said of her first conversation with Lithgow.As for whether prosthetics were used in the film, Hyde played coy.“All I will say is that John is the most open, generous person, with his body and his heart and his soul, when it comes to making a story and a character,” she teased.“So that moment he just walks on in, he just drops it in front of whoever’s there — closed set, of course — and he just goes for it.

He is absolutely wonderful.”Starring alongside Oscar winner Olivia Colman and Aud Mason-Hyde, Lithgow plays a titular character in “Jimpa,” a father and grandfather who left his family behind in Australia years ago to move to Amsterdam and live as an openly gay man and activist.The film follows Jimpa’s ex, Hannah (Colman), and their trans non-binary teenage child, Frances (Mason-Hyd...