One of the benefits of being a creator is the ability to make something you wish you had been able to experience in your youth. That is part of what drove Corey Sherman to write and direct his new film “Big Boys.”
The Dominion Post had an opportunity to sit with Sherman and talk about making his film.
The movie, which follows Jamie, a 14-year-old who gets a crush on his cousin’s boyfriend while they’re out camping, is sweet and wholesome. We asked Sherman why he went that route with his movie.
“I love movies that are life-affirming in a subtle way. Movies that where you can tell the filmmakers really love people and believe in people’s ability to be kind to and connect with one another.”
He also recognizes that can go too far and added, “But also it’s not like rose-tinted glasses. I want it to feel like there’s a sense of understanding of how the world can be full of bittersweet experiences. I really just wanted to infuse the movie with as much of that as possible.”
As the title indicates, both Jamie and his crush, Dan, have a larger body type. But rather than that being a potential source of shame, the film is very body-positive in its approach. This was intentional on Sherman’s part.
“I always knew that I wanted the weight part of the story to be a little bit more subtextual,” he said. “I didn’t want it to feel like we were watching something super traumatizing happen to Jamie around his weight.”
He credits the success of this to Isaac Krasner’s performance.
“I think that Isaac made it clear that Jamie feels self-conscious about his body. And I think that if you’re watching the movie and paying attention, you’re picking up on the signs that a lot of that probably does come from being a big guy. But he would also see the way that Dan carries himself with a lot more confidence and some swagger and is very unapologetic about his body. And I think that in subtle ways, you’re watching Jamie pick up on that kind of body language and that way of carrying himself and being inspired by it.”
The film also taps into a feeling of loneliness that can happen for young LGBTQ kids, especially when they’re first figuring things out.
When Jamie first fantasizes about Dan, there is a sense of naivete about it.
“He’s 14 years old, he’s just beginning to come into his sexuality. There’s a bit of innocence to his fantasies, but I think, more importantly, what he’s really craving is intimacy and a sense of comfort with an imaginary boyfriend figure. More domestic, but I remember feeling that way at that age. Craving the idea so badly of a partner in the first place, and it feeling like something that was very far off.”
The movie ends without a neat bow — but more as the beginning of Jamie’s journey.
“He still got a long way to go, but there’s still a sense of hope by the end of the movie,” Sherman said. “I want it to encourage people who might be holding a similar secret to him. People who are closeted, but also anybody who feels ashamed of the way that they feel about anything or towards someone else. And hopefully encourage them to be honest about the way that they feel. Because, in my life, being honest with people has always been so tremendously healing. I’ve been lucky to know a lot of kind people in my life that I feel embraced me, and I would hope that somebody watching the movie would walk away with that same feeling of faith in humanity and people’s ability to be kind and take them as they are.”
“Big Boys” is available now on video on demand.
