GLEE STAR ALEX NEWELL JOINS YOUNG BROMANCE IN
“GEOGRAPHY CLUB”
From young twin
brothers Gary (director) and Edmund
(writer), “Geography Club” stars “Glee’s” Alex Newell with Cameron Deane
Stewart, Justin Deeley, Nikki Blonsky, Meaghan Martin, Andrew Caldwell and
Allie Gonino in a coming-of-age and coming-out film of contemporary gay
teenagers who formed a club that seemed so nerdy that it keeps the curious
away, so that they can openly and safely discuss their true sexual identities.
Based on Brent
Hartinger's best-selling critically acclaimed novel of the same title, “Geography
Club” is a fast, fresh coming-of-age movie that tells a real and powerful story
unfolding in every high school around the country – a story of kids hiding
their true identities in plain sight, even as they feverishly pursue their
hearts’ desires yet still look for something that will finally define who they
are. They start out trying to protect their one big secret among
themselves. Russell (Stewart) is dating
Trish (Martin), a sweet but sexually motivated young lady – even as he is
falling for the football jock Kevin (Deeley), who won’t ever reveal the truth
to his macho teammates Nolan (Harvey) and Jared (Darden). Min (Maki) and Terese (Blonsky) tell everyone
they’re really just best friends. And
then there’s Ike (Newell) who is trying on every identity in the book. They
know they are different, but at least they’re not in daily danger like the
bullied geek Brian Bund (Olivares). Yet, when Russell’s sexual orientation is
suddenly exposed to the whole school by the ultra-popular Kimberly ( Gonino),
the members of the Geography Club begin to panic.
The movie aims to
bust old stereotypes; create fun, relatable characters where few have
previously existed in pop culture; and explore a new world – one in which
tolerance is slowly growing but peril still lurks for teens who don’t quite fit
into the usual crowd. Edmund Entin,
who wrote the screenplay, said, “I was immediately attracted to this project because
I have such an affection for the novel and jumped on the chance to work on the
film. I saw in the novel, a tapestry of characters and emotions that felt
specific to these times. “The best coming of age films resonates
with the mainstream when someone can take the pulse of the contemporary
adolescent and write something that shades them perfectly. The novel did that.
And my vision for the screenplay was to accentuate those feelings. As the
writer of the screenplay I felt I was borrowing the universe from the novel’s
author, Brent Hartinger, and delicately molding it to exist as a narrative more
fitted for the screen.”
Gary Entin, the
director, reiterates: “What struck me most about the novel was how cleverly its
different themes were sewn in, and how perceptive they were in their quest to
define what drives a young adult emotionally. Geography Club merges the
journeys of many different students to service its larger message, giving
everyone who reads it a character to identify with.
“I believe there
is something in this film for everyone. First and foremost I believe a movie
should be entertaining. If you walk away from this movie having had a good
laugh and a good cry, we’d all have done our job. My overall vision for the
film was to take a subject matter usually told from an insider’s perspective
and treat it with the commercial aesthetic of a classic John Hughes film.
After all, it
might be the era of "it gets better," but there are more social land
mines -- from digital dating to physical and cyber bullies, from the stress on
success to being the most publicity exposed generation in history -- for kids
to outwit than ever. "Geography
Club" zooms through this new reality, and becomes the coming-of-age movie
of a generation as savvy as any, yet still flummoxed by the timeless question
of how anyone can survive the intoxicating madness of youth and emerge happy to
be who they are.
Join “Geography
Club” as it comes out in cinemas on February 5 from CrystalSky Multimedia.
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