Alexander Lincoln on gay rugby film In From the Side: ‘I saw a lot of myself in it’
Exclusive: "The sport is bigger than masculinity" says the rising star, as he addresses his Heartstopper-adjacent rugby-playing past and the chances of him returning to Emmerdale
Alexander Lincoln has spoken of how he related to the characters from his hit movie In From the Side.
The 2022 drama, streaming now on Netflix, follows two male rugby players of a fictional queer London club.
Relative newcomer to the team Mark (played by Alexander) hooks up with the more seasoned Warren (Alexander King) however both men are already in relationships.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Attitude, Alex explained how he was able to put his own rugby-playing past to good use, having practised the sport as a teen. (By the way, his life has more than a few parallels with Nick from Heartstopper!)
“That was one of the main draws for me, I guess I saw a lot of myself in it” – Alexander Lincoln
He shared: “[Rugby] was a very tough sport, for sure. But I never felt it was a particularly masculine thing. It was what I enjoyed doing – and I was big, so it worked. That was one of the main draws for me, I guess I saw a lot of myself in it. And I don’t know when I’ll get to play [in] a rugby film again.
“There are so few out there. The only one I can think of is Invictus – but that was about the political landscape of South Africa.”
Adding he was “always the sexually ambiguous one” at school, he continued: “At the time, I made a joke out of it. But I never felt the clown of the club.
“Everybody accepted me for what [I] was. Even now. Which is beautiful.”
“The sport is bigger than masculinity”
In From The Side has seen huge success, gaining a slot at BFI FLARE: London LGBTQI+ Film Festival, as well as later being given a release across UK cinemas.
Alex added of the film: “A lot of people talk about the idea of toxic masculinity in reference to the film. Matt Carter, the co-writer and director, has talked very definitively about how the film is disregarding toxic masculinity. As much as rugby can be lad culture — drinking, eating live goldfish, whatever; not that I’ve done that! — my experience of rugby, and of the film, has been inclusivity. Yes, it’s about confidence and physicality. But there are female rugby players who are wonderful. The sport is bigger than masculinity.”
In our interview, the former Emmerdale actor also addressed the prospect of returning to the ITV soap.
“I loved the show,” he reflected. “I lived in Leeds for two and a half years. I miss everyone from the show deeply. No one knew who I was before it — I’d done some very tiny things. It was my initiation into the acting world. I can never thank them enough for that experience. But I don’t know, to be honest. There have been talks. But for now, I really want to focus on this year: I want to produce, start my own scripts. There are other parts I want to play. There are time constraints. Being on the show, it’s such hard work — you don’t have time to do anything else. Booking a holiday is hard enough!”
In From The Side is available to watch now on Netflix.