6 Things You Need to Know About Hulu’s ‘Fire Island’
4 min readTo kick off Pride Month 2022, Hulu is releasing a new feature film about the famous gay vacation destination, Fire Island. The film has a wonderful queer cast and showcases many AAPI actors as well. This only adds to the pertinency of this film, as a majority of queer media only focuses on white gay characters. Regardless, this film is sure to be an absolute queer comedic blast as it stars some of the country’s funniest LGBTQ+ actors and comedians.
The film is directed by Andrew Ahn and has a screenplay by Joel Kim Booster. Thus far, Fire Islandhas received generally favorable reviews, earning a high 94% from Rotten Tomatoes and a 77% from Metacritic. As this highly-anticipated movie will be able to stream on Hulu, viewers looking for an LGBTQ+ watch for Pride month have the perfect option.
A Gay Retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice
One of the most important details about Fire Island is the fact that this film is set to be a retelling and reworked gay adaptation of the famous Jane Austen novel, film, and stageplay Pride and Prejudice. Of course, there are many differences, including the rejection of heteronormativity, the time period, and the setting of the film.
Yet, the shared plot line is apparent. Two friends and their chosen family take a week-long vacation to Fire Island and are excited about their annual week of fun times and day drinking, but when things take a turn their bonds are tested. Kim Booster plays Noah, who is the Elizabeth Bennet of the film, who falls in love with Will (played by How To Get Away With Murder’sConrad Ricamora), the token Asian from a rich white gays’ group. As more and more drama ensues, will the budding romances of Noah and his dear friend Howie be the love they found but never expected?
The Cast
Fire Island’s cast is absolutely stacked with the top queer comedians and actors across the country. Playing the lead role of Noah is Kim Booster, and playing his best friend Howie (the Jane to his Elizabeth) is Bowen Yang (current SNL cast member and sensation). Ricamora is Will, Noah’s love interest, and James Scully (known for his role as Forty Quinn in Netflix’s You) plays Charlie, Howie’s love interest.
Margaret Cho plays Erin, Matt Rogers (Yang’s co-host of the legendary comedy podcast Las Culturistas) plays Luke, Tomás Matos plays Keegan, Torian Miller portrays Max, Nick Adams (known for his extensive Broadway career) plays Cooper (one of the rich white gays who look down on Noah’s friends), Zane Philips plays Dex, Michael Graceffa is Rhys, Aidan Wharton is Braden, Peter Smith portrays Moses, and Bradley Gibson plays Johnny.
An SNL Cast Member?
As stated before, Bowen Yang will play Howie, Noah’s best friend who—according to the trailer—falls in love with Charlie. Yang is a current cast member on SNL and has been working on the show since 2018. Since then, Yang’s career has skyrocketed completely, and he has been praised for his sketches and characters, including the infamous Iceberg that sunk the Titanic.
Yang is the show’s first-ever Chinese-American and third openly-gay cast member and is the perfect addition to Fire Island for his unique and drop-dead hilarious comedic style and acting chops. Fans of the famous comedy series should be extremely overjoyed to see Yang act in Fire Island alongside his best friend from NYU and podcast co-host Rogers. He is sure to be spectacular!
Production Details
Since the film releases in early June, there aren’t many important production details to share. For film fanatics, this movie’s journey might be interesting. Fire Island originally started as a series called Trip that was set to be produced on Quibi, a streaming television network. However, the project was completely stopped due to the collapse and eventual shutdown of Quibi.
It was then announced that Searchlight Pictures would develop the film, and the movie was retitled to Fire Island. Principal photography started in August 2021 and continued through to September 2021, and took place in New York City, Brooklyn, and the actual Fire Island.
The Trailer
The trailer for Fire Island was released on April 25, 2022. The film’s trailer gained over 3 million views since then, and the fans’ hype around the movie has only increased as more information has been released.
Watch the trailer here.
The Release Date and Where to Stream
Fire Island will be released on Hulu on June 3, 2022.
For anyone looking for a hilariously romantic queer film to enjoy during Pride Month, Fire Island should be the first choice.
