PARK CITY, Utah — In “I Am Michael,” a drama based on Benoit Denizet-Lewis’s 2011 New York Times article “My Ex-Gay Friend,” James Franco plays the part of Michael Glatze, the ex-gay friend in question.
The film, which premiered Saturday at the Sundance Film Festival, is a sensitive, complicated and provocative story about a prominent gay activist who, in just a few years, denounces his homosexuality.
Michael’s transformation is not played for a surprise in the movie. Justin Kelly’s film opens with a buttoned-up Michael telling a terrified young man that homosexuality is immoral, before abruptly jumping back in time to show Michael in his activist days (and, in fact, at a raucous rave, where Franco says he was almost blinded by green glitter).
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At the heart of the story is the relationship with his longtime boyfriend, Bennett (Zachary Quinto). The two have an easy, intimate and wholly lived-in chemistry when portraying Michael and Bennett as a happy couple.
But the actors, who look so comfortable together on screen weren’t even acquaintances in real life prior to the film.
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It wasn’t difficult for the two to fall into the role of lovers. “James is really affable in his real life and he’s a pro,” said Quinto.
Kelly agreed. “The scene they wake up in bed together … we shot that on, I believe day two or three and it was crazy how immediate the connection was. Everyone watching the monitor was like ‘Oh, they’ve been dating for 10 years.’ It’s the craziest thing.”
“It’s four years,” said Quinto, laughing.
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