Netflix has unveiled the first The Boys in the Band trailer from the upcoming feature film adaptation, which will released on September 30th. Based on the Broadway play of the same name by Mart Crowley, the story revolves around a group of gay friends who reunite to celebrate one of their birthdays, only to have their evening upended when the host’s potentially closeted roommate shows up uninvited.
Joe Mantello, who directed the stage play, also directed this feature film adaptation having previously worked with Ryan Murphy on the HBO movie The Normal Heart and the Netflix limited series Hollywood. Murphy produced The Boys in the Band.
The cast of this one is pretty star-studded, with Jim Parsons leading an ensemble that includes Zachary Quinto, Matt Bomer, Andrew Rannells, Charlie Carver, Robin de Jesús, Brian Hutchison, Michael Benjamin Washington, and Tuc Watkins.
Parsons is front and center in this trailer and he's fantastic. We kind of took his talent for granted during his tenure on The Big Bang Theory, and this trailer is a nice reminder of his range — when he's allowed to go there. I also like the firecracker pace of the whole thing, and will be curious to see how the play translates to film. Especially given that the story mostly takes place in one apartment.
Murphy previously told Collider in an exclusive interview that part of what made The Boys in the Band remarkable was that the parts that are gay were actually all played by gay men:
“What I loved about it, it was the first time that I can recall where all the parts that were gay were played by gay men and we were all friends with each other in real life. We all sort of came together and created this great tribute to that play. And I think Joe really directed the hell out of it and it felt very modern. Then to be able to finish it and step away for a little bit, and then come back and film it, and make it even deeper and more cinematic, which it is, I think it’s really extraordinary.”
Check out the Boys in the Band trailer below, and keep an eye on that Oscar campaign for Parsons.
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Here's the official synopsis for The Boys in the Band:
More than fifty years after Mart Crowley's play became an unexpected smash hit for putting gay men's lives center stage with honesty and humor, THE BOYS IN THE BAND returns to the screen in a new adaptation that reunites acclaimed director Joe Mantello with the all-star cast of the Tony-winning, 2018 Broadway production. In 1968 New York City - when being gay was still considered to be best kept behind closed doors - a group of friends gather for a raucous birthday party hosted by Michael (Jim Parsons), a screenwriter who spends and drinks too much, in honor of the sharp-dressed and sharp-tongued Harold (Zachary Quinto). Other partygoers include Donald (Matt Bomer), Michael’s former flame, now mired in self-analysis; Larry (Andrew Rannells), a randy commercial artist living with Hank (Tuc Watkins), a school teacher who has just left his wife; Bernard (Michael Benjamin Washington), a librarian tiptoeing around fraught codes of friendship alongside Emory (Robin de Jesús), a decorator who never holds back; and a guileless hustler (Charlie Carver), hired to be Harold’s gift for the night. What begins as an evening of drinks and laughs gets upended when Alan (Brian Hutchison), Michael’s straight-laced college roommate, shows up unexpectedly and each man is challenged to confront long-buried truths that threaten the foundation of the group’s tight bond.
