HIV, hate crimes, and coming out to one's parents. These are common elements when LGBTQI people are portrayed in films and TV series. "Happy damn Pride" has mostly steered clear of that kind of thematic, with a lighthearted tone where wine flows and a rough humor where anal sex stains on the couch are everyday fare.
A series like this has not really been made in Sweden before. Even if you identify as straight or homosexual, you can find something to relate to, says Oscar Wallgren.
He plays Dilan, literally the cousin from the countryside. An innocent who plays "Magic: the gathering" and loses his bank card on the first day in Stockholm during Pride Week. Dilan has traveled to the capital to meet a guy, but feels self-conscious in front of all the hip Stockholm homos and gets tangled up in various lies to fit in.
Dilan is uncertain and Stockholm is very new to him. He would need to dare to throw himself out there and not try to be someone else, says Oscar Wallgren.
The challenge of playing self-centered
Dilan's cousin Ari – played by Carlos Romero Cruz – has a top job as a real estate agent and a lifestyle centered around the gay app Grindr.
Ari is so incredibly self-centered and is not particularly nice to his friends Dilan and Nina. Ari's challenge is to be true to himself. He has lost something with all the work and a relationship where he is not very nice to the guy, says Carlos Romero Cruz.
For Romero Cruz, it was about understanding what Ari's behavior was based on when he portrayed the sometimes unsympathetic role.
Needs to set a value on herself
Their lesbian friend Nina, played by Sofia Kappel, has her own relationship problems. After a flirtatious text to a colleague, she gets dumped by her influencer girlfriend and starts dating a bohemian girl who lives in a van.
Nina needs to set a value on herself. She is lost and has placed her well-being in someone else's hands. When that person leaves, it becomes difficult to be alone.
Kappel won a Golden Bug Award in 2022 for the lead role in the realistic porn drama "Pleasure" and was drawn to "Happy damn Pride" because it was different from her previous projects.
It's about relationships like everyone else's. Not "oh how hard it is to be gay and have to come out", there's enough of that, says Sofia Kappel.
Drama comedy series set during Stockholm Pride.
Directed by: Måns Nyman
Script: Melina Meraki, Sebastian Antonios Johansson
Starring: Oscar Wallgren, Sofia Kappel, and Carlos Romero Cruz
Episodes: 6
