If the mere sight of a shirtless Russell Tovey was enough to make one man faint during a recent performance of A View From the Bridge on Broadway, you might want to stock up on smelling salts for his next film.

In The Pass, Tovey will be portraying Jason, a premier league footballer who shares an intimate night with a teammate before his first big international match. The film follows the fallout from that evening on Tovey’s character and his teammate, played by Arinze Kene (Freestyle). Tovey is reprising the role, having previously played Jason on stage.

“As a season ticket holder of a major Premier League Club, I know just how much interest there is in the question of why no currently-playing Premier League player has come out – or has felt able to come out – as gay,” said producer Duncan Kenworthy. “The Pass is by no means an issue film, but John Donnelly’s wonderful screenplay puts very handsome flesh on the bones of this modern anomaly, imagining the pain, passion and complexity of the lives of elite footballers always inches away from fame or failure, and wondering whether honesty is worth the price.”

The Pass will open the 30th edition of BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival on March 16.

Are you excited to see more from the film?