'Fire Island' Stars on Gay Rom-Coms and Not Sugaratg the Story - Variety

gay rom com fire island

"Fire Island" stars Joel Kim Booster and Bowen Yang talk the srcy of gay rom-s at the premiere.

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“SOMETHG SPECIAL AND UNIQUE AND GAY”: YOUR FIRST LOOK AT FIRE ISLAND

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We’re all head to the same place: Fire P—a queer hamlet on the larger Fire Island, though the nam n be ed terchangeably—is a gay mec.

“We ma somethg really, really special and unique and gay, ” Fire Island star and scribe Joel Kim Booster tells me over the phone, about six months after that ferry ri. This is what gay men do all the time.

THE FIRE ISLAND ST AND CREW ON THE GAY ROM-’S SIGNIFINCE

Fire Island: Directed by Andrew Ahn. Wh Joel Kim Booster, Bowen Yang, Margaret Cho, Conrad Rimora. A group of queer bt iends gather Fire Island P for their annual week of love and lghter, but a sudn change of events might make this their last summer gay paradise." data-id="ma * gay rom com fire island *

”In a world where queer ntent typilly skews toward the treacly (thk Love, Simon), or the tragic (thk The Power of the Dog), makg a story about gay love for a major movie stud is self somethg of a radil act. (Though not too radil: Billy Eichner’s gay rom- Bros, which also featur an all-queer prcipal st, hs theaters this September. ’” Booster shelved the ia for years, only for to reemerge an say he wrote for a now funct blog about his nnectn to Aten as a gay man.

Was there a gay Amber Alert we all somehow missed?

‘FIRE ISLAND’ STARS ON THE SRCY OF GAY ROM-COMS AND NOT SUGARATG THE STORY

The excellent gay rom- 'Fire Island' updat Jane Aten's 'Pri & Prejudice' for a new era–and a new set of inty issu. * gay rom com fire island *

”“Sometim if you’re gay, you don’t thk you n be classist or racist, ” Cho tells me between tak. ”Or, as Booster puts : “What happens when gay men are put together on an island and there are no straight people to opprs ?

”“There is this ia that ’s only for whe mcle gays, ” Booster says, of the P—or for gay men wh money.

FIRE ISLAND: WHY WE’RE EXCED ABOUT THIS NEW GAY ROM-COM

Fire Island is the exceptn to the le of our liv, the same way that a gay romantic edy wh four Asian Amerin stars is an exceptn to the le of Hollywood. ”“I want people—pecially gay men, pecially queer people—to walk away om the movie happy that they’re gay, ” Booster says.

“I thk that there are so many movi about the gay experience that are ght wh people who are unsure if they’re happy beg gay or stgglg wh g out….

'FIRE ISLAND' TRAILER: 'PRI AND PREJUDICE' GO GAY WH JOEL KIM BOOSTER, BOWEN YANG

Jam Scully: Bee a big part of the story was explorg the racial tensn between whe cisgenr gay men of privilege, and basilly like everyone else the queer muny, I was like, this is a space that I n take up. I was also like, wow, like a gay, a gay rom-.

He really r about the gay havens and gay spac. Which might not sound so monumental until one clus the part about how this ntemporary adaptatn of Pri and Prejudice is set at a hedonistic gay vatn statn, featur an all-LGBTQ st, clus plenty of sex, dgs and Marisa Tomei-imprsns and is beg released by Disney.

The Ben sisters bee a chosen fay of gay men headg to Fire Island for their annual week-long adventure. "As much as is a safe space om straight people, 's still a risky or unfortable space for people who don't necsarily f to this whe, cisgenr, mcle gay kd of role.

POLAROIDS OM THE SET OF GAY ROM- FIRE ISLAND ARE A NNECTN TO THE BEACH GETAWAY'S PAST

And aga, I go year after year and I evangelize for bee I don't thk that should jt belong to whe gay guys wh seven per cent body fat who have all the expendable e the world.

My dream is to be rich enough to create a sort of gay birthright for queers of lour om red stat to vis Fire Island so they get to experience that every now and aga. So like Big En, Trick, Mambo Italiano, Adam & Steve or any gay die rom- I was vourg at the time.

‘FIRE ISLAND’ DELIVERS GAY ROM COM SUMMER FUN WH A JANE ATEN TWIST

"I've talked to gay edians that have been dog this for 20 years who talk about how isolated they felt g up this dtry, bee there was this ia that there uld only be one of that was succsful.

The dtry would have their gay guy and that would be .

JOEL KIM BOOSTER DON’T NEED GAY ROM-COM ‘FIRE ISLAND’ TO BE PALATABLE FOR ‘CERTA PEOPLE’

"It would be very easy for me to look at Bowen's succs and be like, 'Well, 's over for me bee they have their gay Asian guy now.

He joed Tom Power to talk about havg the chance to fally show his leadg man potential the new movie Fire Island, which reviss Pri and Prejudice among a group of vatng gay bt iends. The film featur a group of gay Asian men, led by Booster and Yang, who head to the P for a fal summer weekend before their host (played by Margaret Cho) sells her beach hoe.

Still, as a gay romantic edy, “Fire Island” mt ntend wh the evable srcy of s genre. “I take the rponsibily of beg one of the few mastream gay movi very serly.

BOWEN YANG SAYS HE 'LUCKED OUT' ON 'GENI' NEW GAY ROM-COM 'FIRE ISLAND'

This year, the summer will see jt one other film “Fire Island’s” archetype, Universal Pictur’ “Bros, ” which bills self as the first gay romantic edy to be released by a major motn picture stud. June is LGBT Pri Month, and rporatns often e the month to highlight their gay ctomers and ers.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* GAY ROM COM FIRE ISLAND

Fire Island: Why We’re Exced About This New Gay Rom-Com .

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