"Those layers are missing from the modern rom-com," he said.
He was still processing that a studio let him not just make a movie starring queer Asian leads, but dive more deeply into complex issues that affected them. "It's a really personal story, and it's hard not to want to protect it and jump in every comment section," he said. "Okay, I just added a corollary: Two men talking to each other about the female protagonist of an Alice Munro story in a screenplay structured on a Jane Austen novel = pass," tweeted Alison Bechdel herself, putting the matter swiftly to rest.Įven before the brouhaha, Booster admitted he was too online, reading comments both good and otherwise and bracing for all sorts of reactions.
The first major studio rom-com to center gay Asian American leads, it's also the only movie to earn a special exception to the Bechdel Test following a critique earlier this month by writer Hanna Rosin, who slammed the film's female representation in a since-deleted viral Tweet. "Not having to navigate a heterosexual society for that one single week is so freeing, it really does unlock a lot inside of you."īooster channeled it all - the magic, the romance, the sex and social hierarchies, dance parties and Britney Spears karaoke - into "Fire Island," a fresh spin on Austen's 19th century novel. "I've never felt closer to my friends than when we're on Fire Island together experiencing the freedom that comes with not being around straight people," said actor-writer Booster, videochatting from Los Angeles about the acclaimed Searchlight Pictures film, which has a breakout ensemble.
"You get on the ferry and it's like a portal into another dimension." Connected by wooden boardwalks and accessible only by water, idyllic Fire Island offers a place of unique liberation, and one not just free of cars. "There is a magical energy, an ephemeral thing about it," Yang said from New York City ahead of the film's early June release.
Joel Kim Booster and Bowen Yang remember that first trip, years ago, to the beachy New York LGBTQ resort that would inspire the Hulu rom-com, " Fire Island." Before playing BFFs Noah (Booster) and Howie (Yang) in the film, who find unexpected romances while vacationing at the Long Island party destination, the real-life friends were on a similar getaway, staying 12 deep in a three-bedroom house, "really making it work despite our comedians' salaries," said Yang. Clockwise from left: stars Bowen Yang, Joel Kim Booster, Conrad Ricamora and director Andrew Ahn of "Fire Island." (Justin J.