Love triangles, tan lines, and beach bonfires: “Fire Island” is the ultimate summer vacay onscreen. Watch the official trailer for the film below.
Joel Kim Booster’s Searchlight film stars Bowen Yang, Zane Phillips, James Scully, Matt Rogers, Tomas Matos, Torian Miller, and Margaret Cho in the queer rom-com about a group of friends who embark on a week-long vacation filled with hook-ups, debauchery, and friendship make-or-break moments. “RuPaul’s Drag Race” star Peppermint makes a cameo. Screenwriter Booster also stars, with Andrew Ahn (“Spa Night”) directing.
Inspired by Jane Austen’s “Pride & Prejudice,” the film gives a modern, AAPI queer twist to the famed romance comedy of errors. Booster plays Noah, an Elizabeth Bennet-esque character who ventures to Fire Island with his pals, including a skeptical Howie (Yang) who is swept off his feet by a doctor (Scully), introducing another friend group into the mix, including a Mr. Darcy-inspired love interest played by Conrad Ricamora.
“I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve watched ‘Clueless,’ from a time before I even understood most of the jokes,” Booster previously told Vanity Fair. “Jane Austen’s observations about the way people are awful to each other without being awful to each other — I was like, ‘Oh, my God. This is shade. This is what gay men do all the time.’”
He cited the plot as asking: “What happens when gay men are put together on an island and there are no straight people to oppress us? How do we oppress each other?”
“Fire Island” was originally set to premiere on the short-lived streaming platform Quibi in 2020 before the service folded seven months after launching.
“The day that I found out Quibi was folding I was like, ‘Oh that’s it, there goes that,’” Booster said. “I think I lean more toward it’s a miracle that any queer shit gets made.” Searchlight later saved the series and expanded it into a feature film instead of 10 mini-episodes.
Booster added, “You just can’t wait around for the industry to catch up with you. You have to just do it.”
“Fire Island” also serves as a platform for Yang to flex his dramedy skills onscreen in a lead film role. The “Saturday Night Live” Emmy-nominated breakout star stole scenes in Peacock’s “Girls5Eva” and “Nora From Queens” and made his big screen debut in “Isn’t It Romantic.”
Looking ahead, Yang stars in the upcoming queer commitment-phobia comedy “BROS” co-written by Billy Eichner and director Nicholas Stoller, as well as “F***king Identical Twins” alongside Megan Mullally, Megan Thee Stallion, and Nathan Lane. Yang additionally is slated to lend his voice to the animated film “The Tiger’s Apprentice” with Michelle Yeoh, Henry Golding, and Sandra Oh, plus “The Monkey King” also starring Jimmy O. Yang, Stephanie Hsu, Jo Koy, and BD Wong.
Check out the trailer below. “Fire Island” premieres June 3 on Hulu.
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