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Joel Edgerton.
Joel Edgerton is finally ready to direct another movie after the success of his 2015 directorial debut, "The Gift."The Australian actor has been busy in front of the camera in movies like the Oscar-nominated "Loving," the recent thriller "It Comes at Night," and the anticipated Netflix movie starring Will Smith, "Bright." But he's finally found time to delve into his passion of directing.
"I made the mistake of not having another bullet to fire out of the cannon after 'The Gift,'" Edgerton told Business Insider while doing press for "It Comes at Night." "I'm finally going to make another movie hopefully at the end of the year. I had a few movies that I signed on for and basically was waiting to get to the end of that. I'm taking time out to concentrate on directing."
The movie will be an adaptation of the memoir "Boy Erased," which delves into author Garrard Conley's experience being enrolled in the camp Love in Action, which does gay conversion therapy.
Penguin Group
Edgerton adapted the book, which looks at Conley growing up in Arkansas until he was outed as gay at 19. His parents then brought him to the camp, which instead of "curing" his sexuality led him to embrace his identity.Edgerton was mum to Business Insider about specifics, but according to a story that ran in Deadline a few days after we talked to him, Edgerton will play the head of the camp, and "Manchester by the Sea" star Lucas Hedges will play Conley. The site also reports that Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman are in talks to play Conley's parents.
"It's a great ensemble piece," Edgerton told Business Insider. "I really wanted to get into some drama, more real-world drama. There is also a sense of danger to it because of the world it's in. It's a modern film and it sort of deals with a thing that I'm really interested in, which is injustice. About the right for people to be who they are. And it's kind of almost a prison film as well. It's got the tension and the fear in it."
There is no distributor in place, but Deadline reports that numerous are interested, including Netflix, Amazon, and Focus Features.