In an August 2002 interview with Randy Shulman for Metro Weekly, Tony Curtis discussed what he saw as the homosexual subtext in The Defiant Ones: ""The subject of homosexuality did not come up literally, but it was so evident. There have been a number of movies I've found myself in without even thinking about it doing it because I like the idea of the impudent attitude toward sex, politics or anything else. My film career always kind of moved in that direction."