It takes a lot of work to become a feature film director. Often, you’ll spend years slogging away in film school and on sets, networking, and working your way up the food chain until one day, a studio executive decides to give you a shot. Maybe you make some short films, or, in the 2020s, you build your brand on YouTube.
… Or, in some cases, you’re Elizabeth Hurley’s son, Damian Hurley, so you spend some time on the Gossip Girl set as an eight year old, cameo on The Royals a couple times, make a short film in the Caribbean, and presto! Lionsgate is on your doorstep, ready to make your childhood dreams come true.
Strictly Confidential, Damian’s feature directorial debut, hit theaters with a limited release on April 5 and is also available on VOD platforms including YouTube and Google Play, and there’s been seemingly no limit to the amount of press this 20-year-old has managed to attract. Publications like People and Vogue and Entertainment Weekly have all gotten in on the action, as has TMZ—which naturally zeroed in on the fact that, in this film, Damian directed his mother in a steamy, queer sex scene. For the morbidly curious, the trailer for Strictly Confidential is about three hours long and spells out most of the plot, minus one major twist.