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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMax Montgomery for Variety<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cHe wasn\u2019t an unknown; he was a great working actor,\u201d Firstman recalls, declining to give his name. \u201cThe studio was like, \u2018We would love to cast a gay actor, but there\u2019s just no one that even touches the level of fame we need to justify you doing the show at this budget.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tFirstman stabs Aperol-soaked ice with his straw, tensing at the memory. \u201cI got to a place where I told them, \u2018I\u2019m not doing this if the actor isn\u2019t gay.\u2019 I was a little bit threatening, like, \u2018You guys don\u2019t want to look homophobic.\u2019\u201d Sundance TV ended up passing on the show, prompting Berlanti to attempt to rescue it for the nascent HBO Max. It would languish there for years, and then disappear altogether in that company\u2019s revolving door of mergers and executive changes.<\/p>\n
\n\tMy, how times have changed.<\/p>\n
\n\tFirstman, 35, does not resemble the typical filmmaker whose career launched into the stratosphere out of the Cannes Film Festival. His baggy jeans, chest-hugging polo and Oakley raver sunglasses lend themselves better to the hipster neighborhood of Silver Lake. (Not coincidentally, that\u2019s the setting of Rachel Sennott\u2019s HBO comedy \u201cI Love L.A.,\u201d on which he co-stars as a stylist and BFF to Sennott\u2019s aspiring talent manager, Maia.) Impishness is Firstman\u2019s trademark \u2014 he\u2019s all easy crooked smiles and bouncing brown curls. That quality is what\u2019s made his \u201cInternet Gay\u201d persona travel so readily \u2014 as evidenced by his more than 1 million followers on Instagram and TikTok. Yet in May, Firstman took the French Riviera by storm with \u201cClub Kid<\/a>\u201d \u2014 his feature debut as a writer-director and first turn as a leading man on the big screen \u2014 where the project inspired a heated bidding war. Indie giant A24<\/a> beat out Focus Features, Searchlight, Netflix and Mubi for a global rights deal worth $17 million, instantly solidifying Firstman as a force to be reckoned with.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cClub Kid\u201d tells the story of nightlife promoter Peter (Firstman), who has blinked and lost 10 years of his life to hard partying (ketamine, cocaine and GHB are supporting characters in the film), a circuit of on-demand lovers and a deep indulgence in modern queer life in New York City. Depression and low self-esteem hover over Peter like buzzing drones, swatted away by late nights and early mornings and Uber Eats and laptop porn. That cycle is disrupted when 10-year-old Arlo (newcomer Reggie Absolom) shows up at the door of Peter\u2019s SoHo apartment announcing he is his son. Both father and child are saved and tested in equal parts, as we learn that truly happy endings never come home with us from the club.<\/p>\n \n\tThe magic trick of \u201cClub Kid\u201d is Firstman\u2019s ability to sell a broad, humorous story about the kind of love that fundamentally changes us \u2014 all while being firmly rooted in the digital, unapologetically gay culture that formed his artistic sensibilities. Firstman is the creative love child of Judd Apatow and Nicole Holofcener, delivered unto a Gen Z cohort who\u2019ve become obsessed with watching movies in theaters.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIt\u2019s been amazing to see the kinds of people that relate to this film, but it really is a movie about growth,\u201d says Firstman. \u201cIn Telluride, I watched a 75-year-old conservative man leave the theater in tears. Then we took it to the New York Film Festival, which I was very nervous to do, and showed it to the 35-year-olds who do drugs. I built the story to work on levels, with the top being a layer of warmth that feels like a hug. I explore some of my more transgressive ideas beneath the surface. If you don\u2019t get it, there\u2019s still a story that will make you laugh and feel something.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tFor those not familiar with Firstman, he\u2019ll seem like an overnight sensation. To others, he\u2019s a veteran comedic force for the chronically online. From the tiny town of Northport on the North Shore of Long Island, Firstman made the pilgrimage to Manhattan that countless hopeful queer people had before him. While building his social following with razor-sharp snark, Firstman worked in writers\u2019 rooms for cult comedy series such as \u201cThe Other Two,\u201d \u201cSearch Party\u201d and \u201cBig Mouth.\u201d He also wrote a now-legendary sketch for Aubrey Plaza<\/a> when she hosted the 2020 Independent Spirit Awards, highlighting gay representation among that year\u2019s nominees that might not be obvious to the straight eye; it ended up becoming a tribute to an astonished Laura Dern, who tearfully stood up and cheered.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMax Montgomery for Variety<\/p>\n \n\tStarting out, Firstman didn\u2019t dare dream of ascending the stairs to the Grand Palais or carving a path to the Oscars stage.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIt was the era of the TV auteurs,\u201d he says of his early idols. \u201cPhoebe Waller-Bridge, Donald Glover, Lena Dunham: I had a voice and felt confident I could do that. They are storytellers. The directing part has always been scary to me, because I\u2019m not as versed in images. I\u2019m the person at the museum who has to ask why the painting is good. Words are the way I get my point across.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tFirstman overcame that fear to shoot \u201cClub Kid\u201d in just 26 days last year. With a production budget just shy of $5 million, Firstman sacrificed his own fees as writer, director and star in exchange for two nonnegotiables: There had to be a pivotal location shoot in London, and the movie had to be shot on pricey film stock \u2014 a decision he defends with the weariness of a seasoned auteur.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThat was vital; we shot on 35mm. We want prints of this movie made,\u201d he says with a kind of reverence. Not for his own ego, but for his vision of how \u201cClub Kid\u201d needs to exist in the world of cinema. Two-time Oscar nominee and longtime Firstman mentor Richard LaGravenese (\u201cThe Fisher King,\u201d \u201cBehind the Candelabra\u201d) isn\u2019t surprised the debut director is calling his own shots.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWhat makes Jordan special is that, like any good artist, you don\u2019t wait for an invitation,\u201d LaGravenese says. \u201cYou create the space for yourself in the culture. He\u2019s done it by sticking to who he is.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWhen I spoke with Firstman at Cannes after \u201cClub Kid\u201d exploded, he told me that the script began as a frothy experiment meant to evoke the dreamy wish-fulfillment films of the early aughts like \u201cUptown Girls,\u201d starring Brittany Murphy, and \u201cBig Daddy\u201d from Adam Sandler. \u201cThat\u2019s how I was pitching it, and once I started writing, it got a little \u2018Kramer vs. Kramer,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \n\tThe movie also had to be decidedly, gloriously gay. It\u2019s not lost on Firstman that \u201cClub Kid\u201d sits alongside other 2026 releases that represent some of the most elevated queer stories that mainstream Hollywood has produced in years, with several of them sitting in the awards conversation with Firstman\u2019s film: Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi\u2019s \u201cLa Bola Negra,\u201d<\/a> Andrew Scott\u2019s tearjerker \u201cElsinore,\u201d Jane Schoenbrun\u2019s \u201cTeenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma\u201d and Lukas Dhont\u2019s fellow Cannes player \u201cCoward.\u201d Queerness is integral to these movies, but not exclusively the point \u2014 they are portraits of soldiers propping up unjust wars, artists defying heteronormative conventions to find themselves and, in Firstman\u2019s case, a fading party boy belatedly becoming an adult.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMax Montgomery for Variety<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI feel like there hasn\u2019t been a defined generation of new filmmakers since the Safdie brothers era began,\u201d Firstman says. \u201cLos Javis and Jane and Lukas and I are all around the same age. Our collective is so queer, and people are responding, and the movies are doing well.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAt the Tower Bar, we cave and order french fries to soak up the spritzes. Firstman is recognized by a musclebound music producer dining nearby with a woman of equitable attractiveness. \u201cHe\u2019s hot,\u201d Firstman says, \u201cbut he\u2019s a really nice guy. And he has a great kid!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n