The 2018 Oscars race has begun.
The trailer for the gay conversion drama, Boy Erased, is finally here, and grab some tissues because it is an emotional gut-punch.
The film, directed by Joel Edgerton, is based on Garrard Conley’s 2016 memoir of the same name, and stars Lucas Hedges (who played a gay high school student in last year’s Lady Bird) as Jared, the 19-year-old son of a Baptist pastor (Russell Crowe), who sends him to a California-based Christian ex-gay program.
“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 an official synopsis.
“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,” Edgerton told Entertainment Weekly. “Garrard’s story is so full of redemption.”
“My approach and treatment of this story was that there were no villains, that everyone thought they were doing the right thing,” explained the director.
In addition to Hedges and Crowe, the film also features Nicole Kidman as Jared’s mother, and out singer Troye Sivan in a small role. “This movie is gonna be so important,” Sivan tweeted, “and I’m honored to be part of it.” The “Bloom” singer contributed a new song—which can be heard in the trailer—to the soundtrack.
The cast also includes Cherry Jones, Michael “Flea” Balzary, Xavier Dolan, Joe Alwyn, Emily Hinkler, Jesse LaTourette, David Joseph Craig, Madelyn Cline, and Britton Sear.
Boy Erased will hit theaters in November, until then, watch the new trailer below:
