Joel Edgerton probably deserves a bit more credit for the kind of serious talent he flexes both in front and behind the camera. Last fall he gave a tender turn in the terrific “Loving,” and this spring he’s in a whole other register for the celebrated horror, “It Comes At Night.” As a director, he impressed many with his no-frills thriller “The Gift,” and now he’s moving onto a bigger canvas, with a drama based on a powerful true story.
Deadline reports that Edgerton will write and direct “Boy Erased,” with “Manchester By The Sea” star Lucas Hedges taking the lead role. The film is based on the memoir by Garrard Conley, the son of a Baptist pastor, who was outed to his parents and endured conversion therapy, only to emerge as a survivor. Here’s the book synopsis:
The son of a Baptist pastor and deeply embedded in church life in small town Arkansas, as a young man Garrard Conley was terrified and conflicted about his sexuality.
When Garrard was a nineteen-year-old college student, he was outed to his parents, and was forced to make a life-changing decision: either agree to attend a church-supported conversion therapy program that promised to “cure” him of homosexuality; or risk losing family, friends, and the God he had prayed to every day of his life. Through an institutionalized Twelve-Step Program heavy on Bible study, he was supposed to emerge heterosexual, ex-gay, cleansed of impure urges and stronger in his faith in God for his brush with sin. Instead, even when faced with a harrowing and brutal journey, Garrard found the strength and understanding to break out in search of his true self and forgiveness.
Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe are being eyed for supporting roles, and I’d assume they’d play Hedges’ parents. That would be quite a combination of talent, and it’s not a surprise that “Boy Erased” is garnering big interest, with Annapurna, Netflix, Amazon, and Focus Features all in the running to pick it up. Filming will begin this fall, and I presume if it all goes well, it’s going to be a serious Oscar contender next year.