There is quite a bit of history between the team of musical theater kids and their teachers that opens in theaters Friday.
, , and Nick Lieberman are all, first and foremost, theater kids themselves. They鈥檙e also longtime friends. Lieberman has been making things with Platt since they were in high school. Galvin and Gordon are best friends and did a play together about a decade ago. And Galvin and Platt are currently engaged.
It鈥檚 Platt and Gordon鈥檚 relationship that stretches back the furthest, though. Both children of parents in the entertainment industry, they鈥檝e been friends since they were 3 years old.
鈥淚 was deeply in love with him,鈥� Gordon laughed in an interview with her collaborators during 鈥淗e came out to me and didn鈥檛 want to be with me, but I still tried for years.鈥�
The ins and outs of all of their collaborations, musical workshops, web series, comedy videos and hours improvising would require a flow chart to process fully. But what it boils down to is when the four found each other, they didn鈥檛 want to let go.
About five years ago, they found themselves with a moment between projects and decided that they would finally do something together. So they 鈥渟tole鈥� some kids from Galvin鈥檚 old performing arts high school in Manhattan and put together a short film about a musical theater camp.
鈥淚t seemed like the most natural world for us to jump off the ledge into together as this comedy collective for the first time,鈥� Platt said. 鈥淲e all felt like it really suited us tonally and emotionally. It was exactly the kind of thing we wanted to make. (The short) was a quite a janky, very fast, very, very, very cheap, quick little moment. But it definitely set off an alarm in all of us.鈥�
A few years would go by before they got the greenlight for the feature, helped by Picturestart and Topic Studios, as well as Jessica Elbaum, of Will Ferrell鈥檚 Gloria Sanchez Productions, who鈥檇 gotten to know
鈥淚鈥檓 such a nerd, so I knew who Jessica was,鈥� Gordon said. 鈥淲e got lunch one day and she said 鈥業 feel like you want more than this. I feel like you want to write things.鈥� She鈥檚 done that to Noah too. She鈥檚 really good at spotting people who want more.鈥�
鈥淭heater Camp鈥� is the feature debut for Gordon and Lieberman. They all wrote the screenplay, and everyone but Lieberman acts in the film. The premise is that a documentary crew has come to make a film about a crumbling but beloved upstate New York camp, AdirondACTS, run by character. In the first few minutes she has a seizure, and her son, a finance bro (Jimmy Tatro), steps in to try to run the camp. Gordon and Platt play camp teachers and former students, while Galvin is a techie with unsung talents.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 often give a voice to the tech people,鈥� Galvin said.
Nearly all of the scenarios in the film are based on things that have happened to them or stories they鈥檝e heard from friends.
鈥淭heater is a world of people who are so absurd and in their own worlds. You can get away with them doing things that are ridiculous,鈥� Lieberman said. 鈥淏ut you also want to find a way to ground it.鈥�
鈥淭he Bear鈥� breakout plays a new hire, who tries to hide the fact that she has no experience teaching musical theater.
鈥淲e all have moments with teachers who are so formative and meaningful and also, like, wildly absurd,鈥� Platt said.
Though all the 20-somethings have been in the business for most of their lives, making 鈥淭heater Camp鈥� was still a baptism by fire in some ways. They only had 19 days to shoot, which they did last summer at a defunct camp in upstate New York, and then had to feverishly edit the film to get a cut to Sundance in time for This was made more complicated by the fact that 鈥淭heater Camp鈥� was also largely improvised.
鈥淭here鈥檚 about 47 different versions of this movie. Some of them are bad, some of them are good,鈥� Gordon said. 鈥淏ut like Christopher Guest edits for a year!鈥�
Still the set was a joyous place and all took care to make sure it was a fun experience, especially for their young co-stars. Some of their favorite moments ever were at school performances and theater camps and they wanted to recreate that.
鈥淚t felt like being in a real theater program,鈥� Gordon said. 鈥淓ven if they messed up, that could be turned into a beautiful moment. I think everyone was scared when we were pitching this movie. How are the kids going to improvise? And they improvised around all of us. They were amazing.鈥�
The truth and history in 鈥淭heater Camp鈥� runs deep, from real footage of Platt and Gordon performing together as kids, up through some more dramatic elements in which the co-dependent friends have a fight.
鈥淚 just felt totally, completely free to be intense and unlikable and funny and weird and all of the things necessary in a way that I don鈥檛 think I鈥檝e ever experienced,鈥� Platt said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e all been part of things where the making of it just really didn鈥檛 live up to what the project was. And even if it came out beautifully, there was something either challenging or difficult about the making of it. The fact that people can look back on this experience separate from the product and be like, 鈥楾his was so fun and I鈥檓 going to remember this positively鈥� is the best thing.鈥�
The film premiered to positive reviews at Sundance earlier this year and was quickly acquired by Searchlight Pictures for a theatrical release in the summer 鈥� the ideal scenario. But the making was already a peak.
鈥淭here will never be another quite like it,鈥� Platt said.
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A version of this story first ran during Sundance on Jan. 20, 2023. It has been updated to in advance of the film's release Friday.
Lindsey Bahr, The Associated Press
