Evan Mock has detailed playing a bisexual character in Gossip Girl, saying that he’s also ‘seeing if I like it or not’ while acting his role.
The skateboarder and model, 24, will portray Aki Menzies in the hotly-anticipated HBO Max reboot who is dating Audrey Hope, played by Emily Alyn Lind.
Speaking with MR PORTER’s digital magazine, Evan explained that although he’s not gay in real life, filming a threesome scene and making out with a male co-star made him question ‘why kissing a man’ is thought to be ‘so much weirder’.
‘It’s pretty lit’: Evan Mock has detailed playing a bisexual character in Gossip Girl, saying that he’s also ‘seeing if I like it or not’ while acting his role in a new interview with MR PORTER
Discussing playing a bisexual character, Evan said: ‘Me and my girlfriend in the show are super into this dude, Max, and we have a threesome.
‘It’s pretty lit. I’m not actually gay in real life but the character is… I guess… bisexual.
‘I had to make out with [co-star] Thomas [Doherty] and I feel like I’m playing the character, but, for my personal life, I’m also seeing if I like it or not.
‘I didn’t but you’re also asking yourself questions like, ‘why is [kissing a man] so much weirder?’ I think it has to do with social norms and all that.’
Breakout role: The skateboarder and model, 24, will portray Aki Menzies in the HBO Max reboot who is dating Audrey Hope, played by Emily Alyn Lind
On screen: Evan’s character Aki and on-screen girlfriend Audrey have a threesome during the racy 10-part reboot (pictured with actress Emily who plays Audrey filming in November)
Evan and Emily play the longtime couple Aki Menzies and Audrey Hope in the reboot, which is set nine years after the original series.
The new version of Chuck Bass is Max Wolfe played by 26-year-old Thomas Doherty. while the new Dan Humphrey character is Zoya Lott played by Whitney Peak.
Also confirmed as appearing in the line-up for the 10-episode spin-off is 28-year-old transgender actress Zión Moreno, who plays character Luna La, and Tavi Gevinson whose mysterious character Kate Keller is only described as ‘ambitious.’
Further talking about how he got into acting ahead of the show starting, Evan revealed that he wasn’t too keen on the idea at first.
Striking: Evan looked incredible as he modelled a range of edgy looks in the high-fashion shoot
Thought provoking: Evan explained that while making out with a male co-star he felt ‘like I’m playing the character, but, for my personal life, I’m also seeing if I like it or not’
Bit sleepy? One edgy shot saw Evan leaning on a windowsill and flashing his shirtless chest while donning fluffy, white slippers
He said: ‘I collect hobbies. Acting is just another thing to add to the list, I guess. I was hesitant at first. I was dealing with self-doubt and s**t.’
However, Gossip Girl’s creator Joshua Safran praised the young star, telling how he convinced him to join the cast.
Joshua told the publication: ‘He didn’t want to do this, I talked him into it. I wrote the role for him, I reached out to see if he was interested – he sort of was, he sort of wasn’t.
‘He’d say, ‘I’m really gonna try!’ I was like, ‘You can try, but this is also a contract and if the show goes years and years you have to be in it.’
Change of heart: Evan also recalled how he wasn’t too keen on becoming an actor at first, but that he collects hobbies and ‘acting is another thing to add to the list’
Childhood: The skateboarder candidly spoke about his childhood in Hawaii and learning to surf elsewhere in the interview
Before being linked to Gossip Girl, Evan was mostly known for his skateboarding skills and became a viral social media star after being spotted by Frank Ocean.
Talking about that fateful day and his brightly coloured hair, Evan said: ‘It was the day I coloured it, actually. [I dyed it] pink just hours before.
‘I had things that I wanted to accomplish. Frank spotlighted me and it worked so well because I’d already set out to do what I’m doing now.’
Evan also candidly reflected on his childhood in Hawaii while speaking to MR PORTER, saying: ‘The lifestyle we were living as kids was really a fantasy.
What a job: Before getting into acting, Evan worked as a guide leading tourists on swims with sharks
‘I was homeschooled. We would go surfing when the waves were good and do our school whenever.’
And explaining how surfing transitioned smoothly to skating, he said: ‘My grandma told me that I was ripping around on a board at five years old. The waves are good in the wintertime, so summertime was just about skating.’
Before getting into acting, Evan worked as a guide leading tourists on swims with sharks.
He said: ‘Sharks just have a negative image. They look scary, but they’re not. They’re battling currents without even trying, they just glide.’
Proving he really can do everything, the actor and athlete also revealed that he’s designing his own clothing line.
Upper East Siders: Evan is also joined in the cast by Eli Brown, Max Wolfe and Thomas Doherty with the show set to air on July 8 (Evan is pictured filming in New York in November 2020)
He said: ‘It’s going to be early-2000s late-1990s raver, plus mixing Hawaiian culture into it – the essentials I grew up with. It’s just another way to express my feelings and ideas’
And although about to star in a hotly-anticipated reboot, Evan said that his long-term goal is all about surfing.
On where he ultimately wants to be, Evan said: ‘On an island somewhere at my house that I own, around the people that I like; surfing seems like the thing that’ll last the longest. Surfing is liberating. It’s freeing. You get lost in Mother Nature.’
The Gossip Girl reboot takes place eight years after the titular gossip site went dark, as a new crop of Upper East Side private school teens grapple with a new anonymous blogger and a new era of social media.
Production on the 10-episode season began in early November in New York City, and it’s expected to premiere on HBO Max on July 8.
The original Gossip Girl starred Blake Lively, Leighton Meester and Penn Badgley, running for six seasons on the CW, from 2007 to 2012.
Dream life: And although about to star in a hotly-anticipated reboot, Evan said that his long-term goal is all about surfing and wanting to live on an ‘island somewhere’