The trailer for the upcoming drama, Boy Erased, which chronicles a teen’s journey through the harmful process of so-called “conversion therapy,’ has been released and it delivers on a deeply visceral level.
Directed by Joel Edgerton, the movie is based on the 2016 memoir by Garrard Conley, and stars Academy Award nominee Lucas Hedges as “Jared,” the 19-year-old son of a Baptist pastor played by Academy Award winner, Russell Crowe.
Outed to his religious parents, Jared is given the choice of attending an “ex-gay” therapy camp to be “cured” of his homosexuality, or face being shunned and disowned by his family.
“Boy Erased is the true story of one young man’s struggle to find himself while being forced to question every aspect of his identity,” reads the official synopsis.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly this past May, Edgerton shared, “The film satisfies the dramatic and salacious stuff that interested me, but it also had an emotional resonance to it that I felt didn’t just make it a dark and nihilistic story.”
“Garrard’s story is so full of redemption,” added Edgerton. “My approach and treatment of this story was that there were no villains, that everyone thought they were doing the right thing.”
In addition to Hedges and Crowe, the film stars Academy Award winner Nicole Kidman as Jared’s mother, and Aussie out singer Troye Sivan in a supporting role.
Sivan has also contributed a new original song, “Revelation,” for the soundtrack.
Watch the trailer below:
“Conversion therapy” has been banned from being performed on minors in 13 states plus the District of Columbia, as well as over 30 cities and municipalities.
The practice has been condemned by the American Medical Association, the American Pediatrics Association, the American Psychiatric Association and many others due to its disastrous effects which can lead to depression and, in some cases, suicide.
Boy Erased arrives in theaters November 2.
