Actor-turned-director Joel Edgerton tackles the controversial yet often ignored subject of gay conversion therapy with “Boy Erased.” The film is based on a 2016 memoir by Garrard Conley, who wrote about his experience at a California-based conversion therapy program called Love in Action. Conley’s Baptist parents sent him there after he was outed as gay in his first year of college. But during his stay, he slowly found the courage to be himself.
According to Edgerton in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Conley’s relationship with his parents is what drew him to the material. It was his intention to portray the parents as complex rather than one-note villains despite their conservative views. It also allowed him to take a film that deals with heavy subject matter and make it less dreary.
“The film satisfies the dramatic and salacious stuff that interested me, but it also had an emotional resonance to it that I felt just didn’t just make it a dark and nihilistic story,” Edgerton said. “Garrard’s story is so full of redemption.”
Academy Award nominee Lucas Hedges plays Garrard Conley who, for the film, is renamed as Jared Eamons. Previously, Hedges had scene-stealing supporting roles in “Manchester by the Sea,” “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” and “Lady Bird.” Now, he gets to graduate into leading man status.
Oscar winners Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe will be playing Conley’s mother and father. Joel Edgerton will co-star as well as Victor Sykes, the head of Love in Action. Rounding out the rest of the cast is singer Troye Sivan, Xavier Dolan, Cherry Jones, and Joe Alwyn.
The last time Edgerton stepped into the director’s chair, he gave us his chilling debut “The Gift.” Now, he is bringing a humanistic story about finding yourself to the big screen. Quite a departure and judging by the trailer, “Boy Erased” looks like it’ll tug the heartstrings.
“Boy Erased” comes out on September 28th, 2018.
Here’s the official synopsis:
“Boy Erased” tells the story of Jared (Hedges), the son of a Baptist pastor in a small American town, who is outed to his parents (Kidman and Crowe) at age 19. Jared is faced with an ultimatum: attend a conversion therapy program – or be permanently exiled and shunned by his family, friends, and faith. Boy Erased is the true story of one young man’s struggle to find himself while being forced to question every aspect of his identity.
