Good for Jake Borelli.
Deadline reports that Grey’s Anatomy actor Jake Borelli will be starring in a gay Valentine’s road-trip rom-com called The Thing About Harry. Borelli will be joined by relative newcomer Niko Terho in the tv movie for Freeform.
As Deadline writes:
“Borelli will play Sam, a handsome, funny, neurotic, intelligent young gay man who combines a scathing wit with an overly idealistic worldview. Sam came out when he was still in high school, something that took a lot of courage in his small Missouri town, but was bullied constantly. Terho will portray Harry, an emotionally uncomplicated, promiscuous player who has always left a string of broken hearts in his wake. Under the surface, Harry actually yearns for love, family and stability, but the thought of commitment still terrifies him.”
But Borelli isn’t the only LGBTQ actor to star in the movie. Queer Eye’s Karamo Brown, GLOW’s Britt Baron, and Queer as Folk’s Peter Paige will also appear in the tv film.
“It’s been an honor to partner with Freeform in making great television with LGBTQ+ characters as leads,” said the film’s executive producers Paige, Greg Gugliotta and F.J. Denny. “True equality can only be achieved when you see yourself reflected in the movies, music, and stories that paint our culture.”
The producers then added:
“As young gay men in the 90s, whenever a rom-com opened, we would watch the leading lady fall in love and imagine what it would be like if the boy was saying all those things to another boy. We’ve always wanted to make a movie—an unabashedly romantic comedy—that queer boys wouldn’t have to translate. It’s rewarding to take the genre to a new, all-inclusive level.”
Related: Will Grey’s Anatomy Keep (And Develop) Its First Gay Male Romance?
Jake Borelli’s career is going very well. The actor has seen a major flip in his career within just the past 3 or so years. While he started out in random roles for television shows like “Steve’s Friend” in Parenthood, the actor landed some meatier roles in Netflix’s “Reality High” and Nickelodeon’s “The Thundermans.” But, it was when Borelli landed on long-running series Grey’s Anatomy that he’d finally made a name for himself.
While playing the clumsy and awkward Dr. Levi Schmitt, Borelli’s acting garnered the attention of showrunner Krista Vernoff. Vernoff then shared with Entertainment Weekly that she developed an entire coming out storyline around Borelli and his character.
“I remembered a friend of mine in college who was sort of a clumsy, fumfering type who would trip over his own feet [like Borelli’s character] and would stutter, and then he came out toward the end of our freshman year and emerged as a completely different human being because he was living in his truth. Living in his truth seemed to set something free in him where he was no longer tripping over his own feet. He emerged with strength and power and sex appeal that had not existed in him publicly prior, and when I remembered my friend, I wanted to tell that story with Jake because it felt like a really beautiful way to evolve his character. Then we realized we’d never done it! It was a hugely exciting thing.”
After his coming out storyline in the 15th season of Grey’s Anatomy, and coming out himself, Borelli was made a main cast member in season 16 (instead of recurring). Now with the news of him starring in this new movie, it appears that Hollywood is taking note of Borelli.
If you want to join them, check out The Thing About Harry when it debuts February 2020.
Source: Deadline
