With more than a dozen films on his actor’s resume, Rob Moretti is certainly a familiar face to some in gay cinema. With his new film, Truth, Moretti marks his second outing both as a writer and director. In Truth, Moretti explores some dark territory, following the tumultuous relationship between his characters Jeremy and Caleb as they dig deep toward each other’s secrets. And not to spoil anything, but it goes just about as well for them as you’d expect when those shadows are finally hauled, protesting, into the light. I had a chance to speak with Moretti about his work, and about his own history with the themes of addiction, abuse, and honesty that make up the meat of the film.

GC: You’ve referred to Truth as tackling issues that were important to you – namely alcoholism and mental illness – and that Sean Paul Lockhart, who plays Caleb, had experienced them as well. Tell me a little bit about your battle there.

RM: Actually, on January 3rd I celebrated 17 years of being clean and sober. I grew up a child of an alcoholic, and I grew up with my mother mentally ill and in rehabs. It was tough. I don’t regret any of that, because I don’t think that I would be the person that I am today if I didn’t experience all that. But if you can overcome that, you can get through anything.

GC: When you set out to make the film, did you focus on those issues, or did the story come first?

RM: It was the latter. The basic story was there, of a love gone wrong. I’ve always been a fan of thrillers and the horror genre, and films like Misery and Fatal Attraction. The baseline was there, and then it developed from these characters and our own experiences.

GC: Your character, Jeremy, is closeted. Is that something you experienced firsthand?

RM: I actually never really had any issues coming out. And, you know, thank God I never had an issue, because that on top of everything else would’ve been a little too much to handle. That idea of Jeremy being in the closet was based on some people that I know and people of my generation. It was a lot harder to be gay in the 80s and the early 90s than it is today.

GC: Lately there’s been some criticism of men – even gay men – being tone deaf on women’s issues. You’ve got one unstable female character in Caleb’s mother, and one whose function is primarily to drive the plot, in the case of Jeremy’s wife. Did you make a conscious decision to contrast those, and offer someone level-headed and affirmative in terms of Blanche Baker’s role?

RM: Yeah – the three women that are in the film are from all different walks of life and different stages of their own journey. There were a lot of elements of that character of the mom [that came from mine] - her always being away, being institutionalized. I wanted to have someone like that, and I also wanted to have someone who you would think would be an ideal mother, like Blanche’s character. I definitely did want to take it from A to Z. And there’s really not a lot of strong women characters out there, especially in gay film, and you have at least two here. Both of them are very intense."

GC: This film ends pretty darkly for everybody. Was it a tough decision as a filmmaker to not give a happy ending to the issues you’ve had to deal with in your personal life?

RM: Absolutely. And the ending that I did put in the film, I wanted to leave somewhat open-ended. Is the character of Jeremy okay? Has his traumatic experience sent him down [Caleb’s] path?

GC: Do you think there’s some comment in there on the nature of honesty and truth in a relationship? Is there something to be said for maybe not being 100% forthcoming, or is it more about how you manage the timing and presentation of truth?

RM: I think it’s a hell of a lot easier to go in like an open book and just get everything out there. It’s much harder to carry those types of burdens as opposed to being yourself and being open and honest. It’s a chore to have to edit yourself, and your words, for the sake of the other person. If you go in open and honest, I think in the long run, people will respect that more.

GC: Compared to other films in this genre, the sex scenes are a lot more explicit. Tell me a bit about that decision.

RM: As I get older, I’m not really afraid of sex and sexuality. From the first scene where it’s kind of beautiful and exploratory, to after my character [tells Caleb that he] found his mom, where it’s kind of rough make-up sex. That stuff is real, so I wanted not to hide anything.

GC: Do you feel any more freedom to do that sort of thing working in gay film?

RM: Absolutely. I look at a colleague of mine who has a film coming out called GBF, and the MPAA gave that an R-rating, just for the whole gay thing. That could be a PG film. If I took this to the MPAA, it’d definitely be NC-17, or I’d have a huge battle with them. It’s not pornographic, it’s not done in a gratuitous way.

GC: Is there more in you about addiction, mental illness, the closet, honesty in relationships, or has the weight come off your shoulders in making this piece?

RM: A lot of it has come off, and I feel a tremendous growth from the first film. I’ve gotten older, [I’m more] comfortable with myself discussing these things, sharing these things. I think I was able to accomplish that in a much more honest way with Truth. Right now I’m pretty numb – I did get a lot out, but I’m sure there’s much more in there. I’m sure."

You can see Moretti and his co-stars in Truth starting January 10th. Find it online at truth-the-movie.com, streaming at Vimeo.com, and on DVD at tlagay.com