{"id":33654,"date":"2022-06-02T15:21:10","date_gmt":"2022-06-02T15:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/fire-island-remixes-a-classic-jane-austen-tale-while-blazing-its-own-path\/"},"modified":"2022-06-02T15:21:10","modified_gmt":"2022-06-02T15:21:10","slug":"fire-island-remixes-a-classic-jane-austen-tale-while-blazing-its-own-path","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/fire-island-remixes-a-classic-jane-austen-tale-while-blazing-its-own-path\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Fire Island’ Remixes A Classic Jane Austen Tale – While Blazing Its Own Path"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The long journey of getting \u201cFire Island\u201d to the screen began with some vacation reading. In the summer of 2015, comedians and friends <\/span>Joel Kim Booster<\/span> and <\/span>Bowen Yang<\/span> went to Fire Island, the gay mecca off the coast of Long Island, New York. Booster brought a copy of Jane Austen’s \u201cPride and Prejudice\u201d to read during the trip. <\/span>
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“As I was reading it on the island, it really struck me that Austen’s observations about class and the ways in which people interact with each other across class lines felt really prescient and really current to me, especially in the setting that we were in, \u201dBooster said in an interview.<\/span>
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Austen’s characters are often subtle and petty in their cruelty, \u201cin ways that leaves them plausible deniability about how cruel they’re actually being,\u201d he said. “I think it’s very current. I mean, it’s shade, you know? “<\/span>
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Once Booster saw the parallels between the rigid social dynamics and unspoken rules that Austen critiques in her novels and the ones that play out every summer on Fire Island, he couldn’t unsee them. That became the basis for \u201cFire Island,\u201d which Booster wrote and stars in as Noah, a character inspired by Austen’s Elizabeth Bennet. <\/span>
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Noah is also the movie’s narrator, guiding the audience through the island’s social scene, which is rife with classism and racism. As he explains at a party early in the movie: \u201cA lot of people think you have to be successful, white and rich, with 7% body fat, to vacation on Fire Island. Those people are all at this party. “<\/span>
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“Fire Island,” premiering on Hulu on Friday, continues the great tradition of movies that cleverly remix Austen tropes into modern retellings, like “Bridget Jones’ Diary” and “Clueless.” The latter was a north star for Booster when writing “Fire Island.” <\/span>
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At the same time, the movie is charting a new path. Released just in time for Pride Month, “Fire Island” is a rom-com with four queer Asian American stars: Booster and Yang as best friends Noah and Howie, Conrad Ricamora as Noah’s Mr. Darcy-like love interest Will, and Margaret Cho as Erin, who serves as a matriarch to Noah, Howie and their friends. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Erin has fallen on hard times and is about to lose her modest house, where Noah and Howie’s friend group stays every summer. By contrast, Will and his mostly white, finance bro friends have much fancier digs.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Margaret Cho, Tom\u00e1s Matos, Bowen Yang, Joel Kim Booster and Matt Rogers in “Fire Island.”<\/figcaption>
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Jeong Park \/ Searchlight Pictures<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

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The movie’s release marks the beginning of a big June for Booster, who joked: \u201cIt’s going to be the month of Joel. If I make it to the end of the month, if I survive it, it will be a miracle. ” <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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He also co-stars in the new Apple TV + comedy series \u201cLoot,\u201d premiering June 24 and created by TV comedy veterans Alan Yang and Matt Hubbard. Maya Rudolph stars as the ex-wife of a tech CEO. She decides to apply her massive fortune toward charitable causes (\u00e0 la MacKenzie Scott). Booster plays her di lei loyal and long-suffering assistant di lei, helping her navigate her new lifestyle di lei and redefine her public image of her. That same week, on June 21, Netflix will release \u201cJoel Kim Booster: Psychosexual,\u201d his first filmed stand-up special since 2017.<\/span>
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“Part of the reason I think I waited so long to do another special was because, for me, stand-up specials are really tricky because I didn’t want it to just be, like, my show with three cameras,” he said . Instead, he wanted to try \u201cmaking it feel almost like a meta-commentary on the idea of \u200b\u200bshooting a stand-up special,\u201d such as showing his interactions di lui with the crowd and talking directly to the camera crew. “I didn’t want to just pretend the cameras weren’t there.”<\/span>
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\u201cIt might work. It might be a huge failure, \u201dBooster said. “But I think comedy specials are, for me anyways, the perfect place to experiment with stuff that’s not just your regular show.” <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Bowen Yang and Joel Kim Booster in “Fire Island.”<\/figcaption>
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Jeong Park \/ Searchlight Pictures<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

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In some ways, \u201cFire Island\u201d also began a kind of experimentally. At first, the idea was a running joke. Every time Booster and his friends di lui returned to Fire Island, he continued noticing the parallels between the social mores on the island and those of Austen’s world di lei.<\/span>
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\u201cI kept jokingly being like, ‘Oh, wouldn’t it be funny if I wrote a’ Pride and Prejudice ‘adaptation that took place on Fire Island?’\u201d Booster said. “And everyone was like, ‘That sounds really dumb.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, but like, it would be funny, right?’ ” <\/span>
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A few years later, Penguin Random House asked him to <\/span>write an essay about Austen’s enduring power<\/span>, in which he wrote about those observations he’d collected on Fire Island. When Booster was between a couple of stalled projects, his agent di lui suggested writing a movie or TV show based on the essay. Booster initially bristled at the idea, thinking he’d “get dragged so hard for writing ‘Gay Pride and Prejudice.'” Then, one day, while bored on a long flight, he opened his laptop, and out di lui came a half -hour pilot script.<\/span>
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No one was really interested in it, except for Quibi. At the time, he was starring in the sadly short-lived NBC sitcom \u201cSunnyside,\u201d and according to Booster, his contract di lui delineated he couldn’t do other TV work. But because Quibi \u201ctechnically wasn’t TV, it technically wasn’t really a movie, there was a lot of gray area in terms of my contract with NBC,\u201d Booster said. “So we went with Quibi, and the rest is history.” (<\/span>RIP, Quibi<\/span>.)<\/span>
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In 2021, Searchlight Pictures bought the project, and it was reborn as a feature film, with Andrew Ahn coming on board as director. Ahn, who, like Booster, is gay and Korean American, loved how Booster’s script was all about queer joy and friendship. <\/span>
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“I really wanted to make something that showed the experience of being gay and Asian American and silly with your best group of friends,” Ahn said, noting that he had already “made my sad gay Asian American movie” with his directorial debut “Spa Night. ” <\/span>
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\u201cIt’s something that I’ve done before and I think is really valuable and I’ll probably do again, because yeah, it’s important to acknowledge the difficulties. With ‘Fire Island,’ that’s definitely a part of the film, \u201dAhn said. “But the main focus really is the joy. And that for me is also so valuable, so I’m really glad that I could get this opportunity to really focus on that. “<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Director Andrew Ahn and writer and star Joel Kim Booster on the set of “Fire Island.”<\/figcaption>
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Jeong Park \/ Searchlight Pictures<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

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In developing the look and feel of “Fire Island,” Ahn turned to stories about great friends and comedies that blend humor with “a lot of heart and humanity,” including “The Wedding Banquet,” “Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion,” and “Broad City.”<\/span>
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While Booster and Ahn sought to make something new and one of a kind, it’s impossible not to be inspired by the many Austen adaptations and modern retellings. “The source material is so good, and the adaptations have been so good. It would be foolish of us to throw that out the window and try and, like, create something from scratch, \u201dAhn said. <\/span>
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In the all-important debate over the two most famous \u201cPride and Prejudice\u201d screen adaptations, Booster said he’s a \u201cBBC miniseries loyalist,\u201d referring to the 1995 Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle version. Ahn prefers the 2005 film adaptation, starring Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen and directed by Joe Wright. The latter was particularly influential in creating the will-they-won’t-they tension between Noah and Will.<\/span>
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For instance, another parallel between Austen’s world and the island’s social scene is that \u201cthe big marquee moments happen at parties,\u201d Booster said. The \u201cFire Island\u201d version of Austen’s Netherfield Ball is the movie’s recreation of the island’s famed underwear party, where Noah and Will find themselves dancing together, getting closer and closer. <\/span>
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Booster wrote the scene after he and Ahn remembered <\/span>a moment from Wright’s adaptation<\/span> \u201cWhen Darcy is helping Elizabeth into a carriage, and it’s very subtle. They’re just touching hands. But it is this moment of such electricity, \u201dBooster said. “And it’s so clear that despite what they might think about each other, there is an undeniable chemistry between these two people and undeniable attraction.” <\/span>
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Therefore, Noah and Will similarly needed that moment where they \u201cfeel a certain chemistry, even if they don’t totally understand it,\u201d Ahn said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Conrad Ricamora and Joel Kim Booster in “Fire Island.”<\/figcaption>
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Jeong Park \/ Searchlight Pictures<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

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In addition to Austen tropes, \u201cFire Island\u201d also cleverly references classic rom-com tropes. There’s the enemies-to-lovers plotline. There are meet-cutes and pratfalls. Someone will write a letter. Someone will attempt a grand (and potentially colossally stupid) romantic gesture. There may be some kissing in the rain. As Booster said, there’s something classic about “the juxtaposition of feeling miserable but still feeling sexy.”<\/span>
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\u201cI grew up and still do worship at the altar of Nora Ephron. I love classic rom-coms, I grew up watching them, \u201dBooster said. “They completely colonized my brain in a very specific way that made dating and actually falling in love very difficult because I had such high expectations for what that should look like and what that should feel like.”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In \u201cFire Island,\u201d Howie embodies that conflict, trying to fight his idealized rom-com impulses about love – but eventually giving in to them. By contrast, Noah, who’s a bit more cynical and pragmatic, represents \u201cthe more grounded side of myself,\u201d Booster said. \u201cIt’s like, ‘Where is this going? What are we doing? ‘ And the magic of Fire Island is overriding those more logical impulses in the character. “<\/span>
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Howie gets his classic rom-com ending, while Booster wanted Noah and Will’s budding romance to end with more ambiguity. The two, who live in different cities, now have to figure out how to make their relationship work.<\/span>
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Ironically, as with the idea for the movie, real life intervened. Booster changed the ending after he, like Noah, met his now-boyfriend di lui while on vacation. \u201cI just thought it was a more honest way to end on the ambiguity of ‘What’s next?’\u201d He said.<\/span>
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By giving its characters the best of both worlds, \u201cFire Island\u201d nods toward the neat and pat endings of Austen novels, which typically end with happily ever after, and conventional rom-coms, which often end that way, too. However, it also recognizes that real life is more complicated. Magical vacations have to end – but they can also be new beginnings.<\/span>
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“Fire Island” premieres on Hulu on Friday.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n