Jordan Firstman is having the run of his career at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. While he’s awestruck at the success of his directorial debut “Club Kid” — a festival selection that commanded a $17 million sale to A24 after a bidding war against six studio competitors – he technically knew it was going to happen.
“A psychic told me last week it was going to be A24,” Firstman shared with Variety, following wide acclaim for the film he wrote, directed and serves as star. HBO and Max Content CEO Casey Bloys connected Firstman with the clairvoyant, who also drew a card depicting a large crowd, saying “a ton of people are going to see this movie.”
That was certainly the case on the ground in the South of France, where “Club Kid” broke through the noise of the main competition titles and became an unconventional darling. Firstman plays a Manhattan club promoter, partying his life away until a 10-year-old boy shows up as the son he never knew he fathered. On screen, Firstman blends an unvarnished portrait of queer party culture with a heartwarming family yarn. In life, Firstman showcases a depth unfamiliar to his core audience, one used to his irreverent and comedic social media persona that’s occasionally drawn him backlash.
Here he discusses his wild week on the Croisette, his eye-popping distribution deal and shifting perceptions about him as both an artist and a man.
It’s safe to say you’ve had an amazing week here in Cannes.
It’s really been the best week of my life. It’s been beautiful seeing my mom here, my non-binary sibling who lives a very different kind of queer lifestyle. Watching people fall in love with Diego Calva. I saw a few posts [about me] saying, “Oh God, this is going to make him such a monster.” But I feel the opposite of that. I don’t want to gloat. I’m just so grateful.
Were you intimidated to play such a serious festival?
They can be a little cunty here, and my movie is corny in a lot of ways. By design.
I think it’s sentimental and just shy of corny.
I’m like the cringe police, so I would never let it get too far. But I’m referencing movies like ‘Uptown Girls” and “Big Daddy.” That’s how I was pitching it, and once I started writing it got a little “Kramer vs. Kramer.” My editor [Sofía Subercaseaux], who also did “Rotting in the Sun,” is also the cringe police. There’s a scene where [my character’s son] Arlo DJ’s in the movie, and he got so into it he was throwing his hands up. She was like, “No. I cannot see this. It’s so cringey to me.”
You told me that you’ve felt misunderstood for the past five years. I think this film shows your full dimensions, and might correct that.
It’s all about perception, for better or for worse. I’m not Meryl Streep. I’m not a chameleon, but Rachel Sennott wanted to show my softer side in “I Love LA.” I’m a cancer. I cry every single day. I felt like my public persona had shaped this particular idea of me. I do always say the inappropriate thing, but I’m a really good person. My relationships in my life are really good. I care about people, and I am generous. I feel like I just became a bit of a punching bag. People saw something more sinister in me than then I felt like I was, but then you wonder, “Am I that?” It was tough. I was low-level depressed about it since 2021. There was a hum of “everyone hates me” for a long time.
That must be corrosive.
You get used to it. And to be honest, 99% of it was the gays. But I’ve grown. When I started writing the movie, it had a more cynical take on the drugs and the partying. But, immersing myself in my community while making this movie made me more compassionate towards gay people, even the ones that are not nice to me. And I get it. I have found myself, when I see a gay guy winning, having this gut feeling to say, “No.” I had to rewire my brain and say, “We can all be here, and it’s good for all of us.”
One of the strengths of the film is that the portrait of queer life is accurate and not tokenized.
And the movie isn’t a condemnation of the party scene. When it’s right for you, it can be beautiful. It’s amazing to celebrate with queer people and dance and do drugs, and some people can handle it for their whole lives. This is a story about someone who could not, who had outgrown it. In New York, so many people are functional drug addicts. There are literal surgeons out all weekend long doing 25 doses of G and then going to perform open heart surgery. And they do a good job!
Trans people are also centered in “Club Kid.” [courtesy of standout performances from actors Saturn Risin9, Miss Benny and Alaska Riley].
Bringing the dolls and the faggots here has been so emotional and amazing to see. A company gave us a yacht for an event, and I got up and said that having a bunch of dolls and faggots [in this space] is important. They’re the ones making the culture. We deserve to stand beside the other creative people here. We had seven or eight offers for the film. I said in every one of my buyer meetings that it was vital to me that this cast gets brought out in full to promote the film – flown out, put up, glam paid for, all of it. It’s really important to me to have them there because they are the heart of the movie. As is [our child actor] Reggie Absolom. He’s going to be so embraced. We’re going for that BAFTA Rising Star award.
Netflix was among your bidders for the film, did you go in a different direction because you wanted a theatrical release?
That was vital. We shot on 35mm film. We want prints of this movie made. It’s just going to look and sound so much better. So many movies at the festival this year were shot on film, I think a much bigger resurgence is on the way. I gave up my fees to shoot on film.
The profile of this film has increased significantly after this week. In 2022, Billy Eichner’s “Bros” was positioned as this important test of the commercial appeal of gay movies in the mainstream. That movie did not meet expectations, creatively or financially. Obviously, “Club Kid” is a very different film, but do you feel pressure to perform commercially, especially with such a huge sale?
I wouldn’t call this a gay movie. I was probably one of the people hating on Billy when [“Bros”] came out, just me as a gay guy, but I have so much respect for him. He’s fucking funny as shit. But we’re going in with a different approach. This movie is what it is. I don’t need to proclaim it as [a symbol]. I mean, I very much hope A24 makes its money back. But this film doesn’t need to change the industry. It’s a human story about a person going through a hard time and figuring out their life.
You also had one of the best Croisette after parties I’ve ever been to at this festival.
People need to recognize that Bobby Beethoven and lsdxoxo came to Cannes [to spin], and they’re two of the coolest DJs in the world. We got them because we’re friends, and that’s the spirit of the movie. It’s people we’re on the ground with. One of my friends had a genius idea to ship 50 trans and queer people from the Marseille Voguers to Cannes. We put them on a bus to come party. And ever since, we’ve been making AI images of the bus on the red carpet [at the Grand Palais].
Pedro Almodóvar and Jordan FIrstman (Credit: Handout)
Cannes is the place to meet your cinema heroes. Who did you run into?
Julianne Moore, on the red carpet. She’s my number one. She said, “I love your show!”, talking about “I Love LA.” Another pinch-me moment was last night [meeting Pedro Almodóvar]. He goes, “How naked are you in this one?”
How long did “Club Kid” take, from script to edit?
This started at Sundance a few years ago, and I was discussing ideas with a particular company. The concept was simple: just me and a kid. I had recently met a friend’s kid, and I really bonded with him. We had a rapport. This company thought that was funny. I was also coming off of “Rotting in the Sun,” and I felt I wanted to do something a little softer. That movie was incredible, but it was harsh. It was harsh on me, and it was [director] Sebastian Silva’s notion of me. He didn’t know me at the time. If he wrote it today, I think it may have turned out different.
That must be odd, someone writing an exaggerated version of you, and then you have to show up and deliver it.
It was the right moment for it. It was the moment to have no fear and say yes. I wanted to be taken down a little bit, for the persona to crumble. But with [“Club Kid”], I didn’t wind up going with that company. [Then, producer] Alex Coco came on and had such great feedback. He obviously made “Anora” with Sean Baker, and the movie “Prince of Broadway,” which “Club Kid” reminds me of. I wanted to do this movie the way Sean does movies. Boots on the ground. I wanted to shoot in real spaces and to cast unknowns. I’ve been working on stuff my entire career that takes so fucking long and doesn’t happen, but this one was like a rocket. I turned in a second script draft and within a couple months we had financing. Three months after that we were shooting.
Has this movie changed your perspective on having kids?
I asked permission to say this, but one of the craziest things that happened during this process was — after I had written the script — my sister, who is gay, asked for my sperm to give to her wife. So, I have a kid. I’m the uncle and the biological dad. The baby is a fucking gorgeous star already. I’m going to be a part of her life as an uncle, and then when the age comes, we’ll let her decide if she wants to call me “Uncle Dad” or “Uncle J.” It’s been beautiful.
