Bound movie Criterion: The story behind the Jennifer Tilly, Gina Gershon sex scene.

Lilly and Lana Wachowski’s first feature film, the noir thriller Bound, created a minor sensation when it was released in 1996, garnering press for its ornate visual style—and for the lesbian love affair at its center. As Bound arrives on the Criterion Collection, Lilly Wachowski and Susie Bright reunited for a no-holds-barred Zoom about working for Dino De Laurentiis, about shooting a queer sex scene while living in the closet, and about butches, pillow queens, and “lesbian cock.” Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity. They would say, “Well, you know that scene where Jennifer has her fingers on Gina’s thigh, it insinuates that something more is going to happen.” Now, if you had a man’s hand on a woman’s thigh, no one would give a crap about it, right? It was a fulfillment of something that had been very carefully planned, and when people ask me, “How come there’s no good sex scenes anymore?” It’s like, well, because you need to spend the time to make it really beautiful and to make it meaningful. They know what they’re doing.” And then, when he saw the sex scene, he said, “The price of this film just went up.” Bright: His Roger Corman attitude kicked in.