Cherry Jones, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Michael “Flea” Balzary, Xavier Dolan, And Troye Sivan Sign Up For Boy Erased
Extraordinary talent join Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe, and Lucas Hedges in Joel Edgerton’s coming-of-age drama.
Writer/director Joel Edgerton’s upcoming film Boy Erased is filling out its cast with some remarkable and diverse talent. Emmy and Tony Award winner Cherry Jones (Transparent, 24) and Grammy Award winner Michael “Flea” Balzary (from the Red Hot Chili Peppers) will join Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe, and Lucas Hedges in this coming-of-age and coming-out drama based on Garrard Conley’s memoir Boy Erased: A Memoir of Identity, Faith, and Family. Also joining the cast are Xavier Dolan (I Killed My Mother), singer/songwriter and YouTube personality Troye Sivan, as well as Emily Hinkler (Tyler Perry’s Boo 2), Jesse LaTourette (Z Nation), David Joseph Craig (The Gift), Théodore Pellerin (It’s Only the End of the World), and Britton Sear (Unfinished Business, HBO’s Vice Principals). For Edgerton, “The Boy Erased cast is rounding out in a way I could only dream of. We have gathered an incredible ensemble of actors.”
The Story
The film will tell the story of Jared (Hedges), the son of a Baptist pastor in a small American town, who is outed to his parents (Kidman and Crowe) at age 19. Jared is faced with an ultimatum: attend a gay conversion therapy program––or be permanently exiled and shunned by his family, friends, and faith. Boy Erased is the true story of one young man’s struggle to find himself while being forced to question every aspect of his identity.
The Filmmakers
Boy Erased is being produced by Edgerton and Anonymous Content’s Kerry Kohansky-Roberts and Steve Golin, an Academy Award-winning producer of Best Picture Oscar winner Spotlight. Executive-producing the film are Rebecca Yeldham, Ann Ruark, and Anonymous Content’s Kim Hodgert and Tony Lipp. Josh McLaughlin, Focus president of production, will supervise the project for the company. Conley is helping to ensure the film is an accurate adaption of his memoir, which was first published last year by Penguin Random House, and was issued earlier this year in paperback.