Saturday Night Live star Bowen Yang and comedian Joel Kim Booster are on board to star in LGBTQ-themed romantic comedy Fire Island, which is being developed by Searchlight Pictures for Hulu.
Andrew Ahn (Driveways, Spa Night) will direct from a script by Booster that is being described as a modern-day take on Jane Austen‘s Pride And Prejudice. The story revolves around two best friends who take a week-long trip to Fire Island, the Long Island-adjacent destination known as a favorite holiday spot among the LGBTQ community.
The timing of this announcement is spot on, as this weekend marks the 45th anniversary of ‘The Invasion’, where boatloads of drag queens stormed the beaches of Fire Island over July 4 weekend in 1976. Ahn is likely familiar with the island’s gay-friendly history, and hopefully this romcom can show how far the LGBTQ community has come since that Independence Day weekend almost half a century ago.
Ahn previously directed episodes of FX’s six-part documentary Pride, which chronicled the struggle for LGBTQ+ civil rights in America from the 1950s up to today. His two feature films include 2019’s Driveways, a quiet but beautifully poignant independent drama.
Booster has appeared on shows such as Shrill and Search Party, and he has also lent his voice to Netflix animated shows Big Mouth and BoJack Horseman. Yang remains a featured player on SNL and had a breakout year on the show’s most recent season.
Production on Fire Island is slated to begin in August on Fire Island itself as well as New York City. Though the film will be released exclusively on Hulu in the U.S., it will stream globally under the Star brand on Disney Plus.
#Peace.Love.FireIsland
