Jordan Firstman says his directorial debut “Club Kid,” about a gay New York party promoter who discovers he has a 10-year-old son, has drawn major attention since its Cannes premiere and Gotham Awards nominations.
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Jordan Firstman’s directorial debut, “Club Kid,” has emerged as one of the year’s biggest breakthroughs, the filmmaker said, following its debut at the Cannes Film Festival and its arrival in awards-season conversation.
In the film, Firstman plays Peter, a gay New York party promoter who is blindsided by a hard-to-fathom revelation: he has a 10-year-old son, Reggie Absolom. Firstman described the experience of making and becoming known for the movie as a test of restraint, saying that as fame grew, “people are shoveling drugs in your face,” which he called “a big exercise in saying no.”
The story has also followed a fast track into the awards pipeline. After a bidding war, A24 picked up “Club Kid” for $17 million, with the film set to be released during awards season. Minutes before sitting down for an interview, “Club Kid” received a best feature nomination and Firstman received a breakthrough director nomination by the Gotham Awards.
Firstman, 35, said his path to this moment has been shaped by multiple roles before directing. He has worked as a viral video star, including a pandemic-era bit, and has been a consultant on “Big Mouth” and a writer for HBO’s “Search Party.” He has also released a comedy-music album and continued building his acting career, including work on “I Love LA” and the 2023 film “Rotting in the Sun.”
“Club Kid” is based on material Firstman described as drawn from a personal place. He said that just after finishing the script, he was a sperm donor for his older sister’s wife. He also said the screenplay attracted Alex Coco, a producer who discussed how “Club Kid” connects to similar approaches—casting people from the community and shooting in real locations. Coco said the film was shot on 35 mm and became “an authentic portrait of New York,” with Firstman’s cast including Miss Benny, Alaska Riley and Saturn Risin9 as Peter’s hard-partying friends.
Firstman also linked the movie’s coming-of-age themes to his own experiences growing up in Northport, Long Island, including making weekend trips into Manhattan as a teen. He said a scene where Peter and a love interest reflect on their earliest sexual encounters captures “a very New York gay thing” about not taking trauma seriously early on, adding that he later started going to therapy in his 30s.
Alongside the movie’s attention, Firstman said he has been adjusting to his new profile. He described the mix of maturity and ongoing mischief in his life, and he said he has also been “in some form of a relationship,” noting he invited someone he had met only once to Cannes, when the movie launched and he found himself falling in love.
“Give me a good headline,” Firstman asked before leaving for a photo shoot uptown, and he offered his own suggestion: “Jordan Firstman is a talented, childlike genius,” he said, “And hot.”
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