You know what they say, life inspires art!
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Ben Platt opened up about how he incorporated his coming-out story into the plot of his latest film, Theater Camp. Platt co-wrote and starred in the movie alongside his close friend Molly Gordon, who also co-directed. The two play theater-loving best friends who spend every summer working at AdirondACTS to put on the annual camp musical.
Not only are the two best friends in the show, they’re also best friends in real life!
At one point in the film, Gordon’s character admits that she once had a crush on Platt’s Angelo. That is, until she found out he is gay. Turns out, a very similar conversation went down between the two actors in their early childhoods.
“We were doing How to Succeed [in Business Without Really Trying], and we were like, 12 or 13. And she was like, ‘Who do you like? You have to like someone in the show,’” Platt told Rolling Stone. “And I’m like, ‘I’m gay.’ And she was like, ‘oh,’ and then just kind of ran to everybody in our show, who most of them probably already assumed or knew. Then from that point forward, we just moved on, as friends. But she kind of coaxed it out of me.”
Childhood Crushes
As for her crush, Platt said it was very much real, and there was a time when he thought he had similar feelings.
“She definitely had a crush on me, she will admit. And I thought I did too,” he continued. “Because when you’re a young gay kid, and you’re obsessed with your girl best friend, you’re like, ‘This must be what it means when you like someone.’
“But ultimately, I was very gay, unfortunately. And also fortunately,” he said. “And Molly [Gordon] had to have an adjustment period of getting over that, which began with her telling everybody that I was gay. Ultimately, they were able to move “forward as friends. But yes, I think the love began as sort of like a puppy love and then transformed into a friendship.”
Let’s Save a Theater Camp
The Searchlight Pictures film shows what happens when the “eccentric staff members of an upstate New York theater camp must band together when their beloved founder falls into a coma.”
Platt’s fiancé Noah Galvin also wrote and stars in Theater Camp as a tech guy named Glenn. The rest of the cast includes Patti Harrison, Jimmy Tatro, Owen Thiele, and Nathan Lee Graham.
Theater Camp is now playing in theaters.
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