The first still from Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies starring Jim Parsons and Ben Aldridge has been released. Directed by Michael Showalter (The Big Sick), the film follows “the emotionally turbulent 11-month journey of [Michael] Ausiello’s former partner Kit, from his diagnosis with terminal cancer to his death.” The official synopsis adds: “Interwoven in the narrative are glimpses of the roller-coaster ride that was the couple’s 14-year romance.” The screenplay is based on Ausiello’s critically-acclaimed memoir Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Other Four-Letter Words.
Ausiello, a former reporter for Entertainment Weekly and the creator of television news site TVLine, will be portrayed by the Boys in the Band alum while Aldridge, best known for his roles on Pennyworth, Fleabag and The Long Call, plays Cowan.
The cast also includes Academy Award winner Sally Field (Mrs. Doubtfire) as Cowan’s mother, Bill Irwin (Legion), Nikki M. James (The Book of Mormon), Jeffrey Self (Search Party), Tara Summers (Ringer) and Antoni Porowski (Queer Eye).
On 31 August, Focus Features shared the first official still from the film, showing Parsons and Aldridge as Michael and Kit (see below).