First trailer released for Oscar-tipped gay conversion film ‘Boy Erased’
Lucas Hedges as Jared Eamons in Boy Erased
The first trailer for upcoming gay conversion film Boy Erased – starring Oscar nominee Lucas Hedges and Troye Sivan – has been released.
In the film, based on Garrard Conley’s book Boy Erased: A Memoir, Hedges plays the son of a Baptist pastor, who is sent away to a therapy programme, aimed at “curing” his homosexuality.
The trailer shows Hedges’ character Garrard being told by his father (Russell Crowe): “I want you to have a great life. I love you. But we cannot see a way that you can live under this roof, if you’re going fundamentally against the grain of our beliefs. Garrard, tell me the truth, that’s all.”
Garrard responds: “I think about men. I don’t know why. And I’m so sorry.”
The teenage boy is then shown being made to go to gay conversion therapy, where he is told: “You cannot be born a homosexual. This is a lie. It’s a choice,” and: “God will not love you the way that you are.”
At conversion therapy, Garrard meets Gary, who advises him in the trailer: “Let me give you some advice. Tell them whatever they want to hear. Play the part.”
The movie also features Nicole Kidman as Garrard’s mother and openly lesbian Cherry Jones playing Dr. Muldoon.
Speaking to PinkNews about his experience of gay conversion therapy, Conley said: “I was given an ultimatum by my father: go into conversion therapy or I won’t see my family again and get an education.”
In February, Sivan said that his experience working on the film left him with “a lot more empathy for parents who send their kids off because think I’ve realised it’s just like, sort of just misguided love.”
“It’s a matter of educating people and that’s what I really really hope this movie is going to help people do,” he told Ellen DeGeneres.
“Learn more about it. Realise that it’s been proven to not be effective and hopefully start making changes because it’s still happening all over.”
Boy Erased is set to be released on November 2 this year.
Troye Sivan stars in the upcoming film ‘Boy Erased.’
(YouTube/Troye Sivan Vevo)
The trailer for another film about gay conversion therapy, The Miseducation of Cameron Post, was released earlier this month.
The movie is directed by Desiree Akhavan and stars Chloë Grace Moretz,
Based on the 2012 novel of the same name by Emily M. Danfort, it follows Moretz’s title character, Cameron Post, who gets caught having sex with the school prom queen.
