Parties and booze abound in ‘Fire Island,’ Hulu’s gay take on ‘Pride and Prejudice’
“Pride and Prejudice” is being remade again — this time as the queer rom-com “Fire Island,” a feature-length film from Searchlight Pictures.
Stand-up comedian and “Big Mouth” star Joel Kim Booster wrote and executive produced the film, whose first trailer was released Monday. Booster also stars alongside “Saturday Night Live” actor Bowen Yang. The two play best friends who take a summer trip to Fire Island — known as one of America’s first gay beach towns, located off the south shore of Long Island, N.Y.
They reunite their “makeshift little family” that consists of longtime pals they met while working at a “cursed brunch spot” a decade earlier and converge on a vacation home hosted by another friend played by Margaret Cho.
“Fire Island” is inspired by Jane Austen’s novel “Pride and Prejudice,” which tells the story of two individuals who must put aside their pride and preconceived notions of each other in order to see the other’s virtues. Booster wanted to tell that story in a “joyful” way that celebrates the gay experience.
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In the trailer, Booster’s Noah and Yang’s Howie rush off to their destination where, “for whatever reason — call it magic — time, sort of, works differently,” Noah says. But that isn’t necessarily the case for a reluctant Howie, who laments feeling “terminally alone” whenever he visits.
Taking both cues from and liberties with the Austen classic, Noah and Howie end up in flings with two wealthy vacationers (played by Conrad Ricamora and James Scully).
“I want people — especially gay men, especially queer people — to walk away from the movie happy that they’re gay,” Booster said in a recent interview with Vanity Fair.
“I think that there are so many movies about the gay experience that are fraught with people who are unsure if they’re happy being gay or struggling with coming out. … I want people to come away from this movie feeling the joy of our experiences and that it’s not all tragic. There are many of us out here living our lives joyfully.”
“Fire Island,” directed by Andrew Ahn, begins streaming on Hulu on June 3.
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