Joel Kim Booster Hop Hulu’s ‘Fire Island’ Starts a Gay-Movie Movement

Contents:

• PARTI AND BOOZE ABOUND ‘FIRE ISLAND,’ HULU’S GAY TAKE ON ‘PRI AND PREJUDICE’
• ‘FIRE ISLAND’ UPDAT JANE ATEN AS A GAY ROM- WHOUT MUCH SPARK
• JOEL KIM BOOSTER HOP ‘FIRE ISLAND’ STARTS A GAY-MOVIE MOVEMENT
• FIRE ISLAND: WHY WE’RE EXCED ABOUT THIS NEW GAY ROM-COM
• THE FIRE ISLAND TRAILER PROMIS THE GAY ASIAN ROM-COM OF OUR DREAMS

PARTI AND BOOZE ABOUND ‘FIRE ISLAND,’ HULU’S GAY TAKE ON ‘PRI AND PREJUDICE’

It seems to embrace gay stereotyp at the same time as mockg them. But perhaps that's part of the enjoyment: outrageo typ such as played by Tomas Matos might not be the centrepiec of gay reprentatn as once they were, but he is still great fun to the film has both a sort of nostalgia for the hedonistic life of the past, and a more ser msage about relatnships, ftg , acceptance and unrstandg. The two play bt iends who take a summer trip to Fire Island — known as one of Ameri’s first gay beach towns, loted off the south shore of Long Island, N.

‘FIRE ISLAND’ UPDAT JANE ATEN AS A GAY ROM- WHOUT MUCH SPARK

Booster wanted to tell that story a “joyful” way that celebrat the gay the trailer, Booster’s Noah and Yang’s Howie sh off to their statn where, “for whatever reason — ll magic — time, sort of, works differently, ” Noah says. “I want people — pecially gay men, pecially queer people — to walk away om the movie happy that they’re gay, ” Booster said a recent terview wh Vany Fair. “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.

Out gay wrer and actor Joel Kim Booster has been workg Hollywood for years, but wasn’t until he wrote and starred the queer rom- Fire Island that he was tapulted to stardom. “One thg that was really important to me wh Fire Island was that felt like a gay movie for gay people, ” he said. ”Even though the island may not be accsible to everyone, Booster still se s importance gay culture.

“But I still thk that there’s real value a space like Fire Island that is pletely queer, gay, and betiful and historic. “But I wanna make sure people know that I’m not jt the guy who mak gay vatn Jane Aten adaptatns.

JOEL KIM BOOSTER HOP ‘FIRE ISLAND’ STARTS A GAY-MOVIE MOVEMENT

The long trip to the screen behd “Fire Island, ” a gay rom- loosely adapted om Jane Aten’s “Pri and Prejudice, ” may be more tertg than the movie.

The transplant procs here is pleasant enough but don’t entirely work, wh Booster’s Noah and Yang’s Howie part of a group of iends who scend on Fire Island for an annual getaway weekend, scribg the bared flh and emphasis on abs as “gay Disney World. Directed by Andrew Ahn, the movie’s ntemporary wrkl – how this diverse group of iends stays together, and Noah’s sense of beg looked down upon due to class and racial divisns wh the gay muny – work margally better.

Directed by Andrew Ahn, Fire Island follows a group of gay men spendg a week at the queer hotspot off the ast of Long Island, New York. While givg Pri and Prejudice a morn, gay update, the romantic edy still manag to rema remarkably fahful to s source material. Hulu’s new gay rom- spired by Pri and Prejudice tak to New York’s favoure gay statn, Fire Island.

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

This summer, the streamg selectn on Hulu will troduce the long-awaed feel-good gay movie Fire Island. The film’s director is Andrew Ahn, known for his ftival-wng queer drama Spa Night, about a young closeted gay man om Koreatown Los Angel who tak up a job at a spa and learns about the secret enunters among male ctomers.

This is what gay men do all the time, " Booster tells Vany Fair. New York’s Fire Island is a popular gay vatn spot known for s wild parti and cisg scene, and there appears to be no shortage of steamy shirtls scen terlaced wh plenty of illy awkward moments.

THE FIRE ISLAND TRAILER PROMIS THE GAY ASIAN ROM-COM OF OUR DREAMS

The film also prents a much-need mentary on the sad realy of racist and elist attus wh the gay muny. In the same Vany Fair terview, Booster wanted to addrs how some gay people believe that belongg to a discrimated mory giv them immuny to beg lled out on their own prejudic. "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, " he scrib the harmful reputatn The P on Fire Island, which is often dubbed as Ameri’s first gay and lbian town, has acquired over the years.

He was featured on NBC’s late-night sketch edy show Saturday Night Live and the upg Billy Eichner trailblazg gay romantic edy Bros. Andrew Ahn’s father once told him that there were “no gay people Korea.

In a culturally nservative muny, where gog to church and buildg a fay were heavily emphasized, Ahn felt his gay inty kept him “om beg able to participate Korean culture.

” Then, he started equentg GAMeBoi, a weekly Asian Amerin gay party at Wt Hollywood’s Rage Nightclub. He learned to embrace beg both Korean and gay, so much so that he directed “Fire Island, ” a groundbreakg queer Asian Amerin rom- released last year.

Beg Asian Amerin and LGBTQ+ n feel lonely, wh stutns such as ethnic church often disavowg non-heterosexual relatnships while tradnal LGBTQ+ spac such as gay bars n be unwelg to people of lor. “Fdg plac like GAMeBoi, where beg queer and Asian do -exist … It’s not like a 1, 000-year-old Korean cultural rual, but I uld create a new rual, ” said Ahn, a recent Friday, hundreds packed QT Nightlife’s monthly K-Pop Night at Micky’s, a Wt Hollywood gay club a block or so east om the old GAMeBoi posed for selfi a pk Barbie box wh dis balls hangg overhead. ” (Michael Owen Baker / For The Tim) Even historilly gay neighborhoods like Wt Hollywood or San Francis’s Castro district, Asian Amerins have long been ignored or fetishized, seen as feme and weak.

In 2019, then-Wt Hollywood Mayor John Duran argued that he did not appropriately touch a member of the Gay Men’s Chos of Los Angel bee “he’s a skny Korean kid wh pimpl on his cheek.

” Asian Amerin advocy groups cricized Duran’s remark, wh API Equaly-LA potg to the long history of discrimatn agast Asian men gay muni such as Wt Hollywood, whose clubs “ed to require three forms of photo intifitn om anyone they perceived as Asian. ” said Crisman, a 36-year-old gay Korean Amerin rearcher and artist.