By Denny Patterson
They/Them (pronounced “They-slash-Them”), the new Blumhouse thriller that promises a queer take on the horror genre, is now officially available to stream on Peacock.
Starring Kevin Bacon as Owen Whistler, the director of a conversion therapy instituion, several queer and trans campers are promised a “new sense of freedom” by the end of the week. However, as the counselors attempt to psychologically break down each camper, a mysterious killer starts claiming victims. To protect themselves, the campers must work together and reclaim their power if they’re going to survive the horrors of Camp Whistler.
As the mastermind behind They/Them, Oscar-nominated screenwriter John Logan (Gladiator, The Aviator, Skyfall) was excited to make his directorial debut with this story. The film’s cast and crew tackle a topical tale that’s a clever appropriation of classic horror tropes in service of an LGBTQ narrative, which is simultaneously powerful and fun.
In addition to Bacon, They/Them also stars Carrie Preston, Theo Germaine, Austin Crute, Darwin Del Fabro, Cooper Koch, Monique Kim, and Anna Lore. They all spoke with OutClique, alongside Logan and executive producer Scott Turner Schofield.
Kevin Bacon (Owen Whistler) & Carrie Preston (Dr. Cora Whistler)
DP: How exciting was it to be involved with They/Them?
KB: It was really exciting. It was a lot of fun to see it come together. Driving up to the camp for the first time, seeing what John Logan had thought up and created, and meeting the rest of the cast. Carrie and I already knew each other, but these young people, I always want to call them kids, which I shouldn’t, but that’s what they kind of feel like, they’re such a fascinating and cool bunch of young people to be working with.
CP: Yeah, and the script is just so excellent and well done. Obviously, John Logan, who’s received every award that you can get in this business, we were in such good hands with him as a writer, and this was his directorial debut. He was excited and he wanted to really bring his best foot forward. There was that sense of, I’m going to make this right and take care of these people, and he did. Also, I grew up in Georgia, so to be able to shoot back in my home state and in the deep woods, I felt very comfortable.
DP: Ultimately, what do you hope audiences take away from the film?
KB: I would hope that general audiences will see this and realize that the idea that you’re going to, quote unquote, convert somebody from being who they are and the way they’ve chosen to live their life is a terrible, horrible, and an inexcusable act of cowardice. I would also hope that there are young people who are feeling left out, closeted, or bullied, they can watch this very accessible horror movie and see someone that maybe reminds them of themselves and have a certain amount of pride about that making its way up onto the screen.
CP: There’s a sense of empowerment that the movie brings with this group of LGBTQ young people, who are coming together against this common enemy. I hope the audiences will also feel empowered by that.
DP: Do you believe They/Them is timely for today’s pop culture climate?
KB: Yes, definitely.
CP: For sure. Now more than ever,I think we need to be telling stories that speak towards the horrors that are happening to any disenfranchised group of people.
DP: Why do you think LGBTQ people resonate so well with the horror genre?
KB: I didn’t know that they did.
CP: We’ve been talking a lot before we started doing media, and the term ‘queer fear’ kept coming up. I thought, yes, this does capture queer fear in a way that is visceral, and hopefully, audiences that maybe aren’t as familiar with this terrible practice will learn about it and be equally horrified. John’s script does a really great thing because it kind of flips the Hollywood trope that a lot of LGBTQ characters in previous iterations kind of end up being the victim. That’s certainly not the case here.
Austin Crute ( Toby), Theo Germaine (Jordan), & Scott Turner Schofield (Executive Producer)
DP: Theo and Austin, how exciting was it to be involved with They/Them?
TG: Oh my God, so exciting!
AC: Over the rainbow exciting!
DP: And what was it like working alongside Kevin Bacon? I can’t imagine how surreal that was.
TG: It was really surreal. My mom told me that she saw Footloose in theaters nine times when she was a little girl. I told that story to Kevin, and he was like, she did not see it enough times in theaters (laughs). Seriously, the dude’s a total legend. He’s so versatile. He’s literally done so many different kinds of things.
AC: Totally agree.
DP: Theo, you play Jordan, and Austin, you play Toby. What did you enjoy the most about playing these characters?
AC: I would say the freedom in my character to be able to hop, skip, and prance around the camp like nothing was going on for a good portion of the film. I felt like I did that in my upbringing a lot of the time. I would just be the happy-go-lucky person that would hear, ‘why are you talking like that?’ ‘Why do you move in like that? I would block it out and just be happy and fun. I feel like Toby definitely does do that, but you see him get broken all the way down.
TG: Honestly, something that was really cool about all of this was, John wanted people’s personal experiences, preferences and everything about ourselves to be put into the characters. I felt very much like I was a collaborator on this film because I got to make decisions about who Jordan was going to be. John encouraged me to give input on what kind of costuming I wanted Jordan to have and what kind of qualities I wanted them to have? He was even like, do you have any notes on the script? Like, are there any sort of things that you might not say in this way? Is there anything that doesn’t make sense? How can we make this more authentic? Please give me your ideas, and he did this with everybody. Who are you? Who do you want this character to be? That was so incredible, and it boosted my confidence as an actor. It made me feel like I really do have a say in the room. Not everybody makes you feel that way.
DP: Scott, not only are you an executive producer, but you are a senior consultant at GLAAD. Can you talk a little about how you came on to ensure that the creative team was honoring the LGBTQ community in the way that the film intended?
STS: Absolutely. As you know, GLAAD is a nonprofit organization that works on representation, but they don’t have the ability to go as deep as this film desired. John Logan and Blumhouse wanted someone who was going to be there every single day. So, I came in to make sure that we brought the GLAAD perspective, but also being a trans nonbinary person myself, I came in to make sure that everybody had the space and the safety to shine. That was my purview. First it was working with John on the script, helping him personalize it, and giving him feedback on parts where he didn’t feel quite as solid, and then coming in training the crew and making sure that set was just a welcoming playground for these folks. Then also being the personal vibe checker because this work was hard! Knowing that they were coming in to do work that might be traumatic to them, we wanted to make sure they always had someone who was there for them to be supportive and to make sure they had everything that they needed. That’s how you do authentic work.
TG: I don’t know what we would have done without Scott, honestly.
DP: Ultimately, what do you hope audiences take away from the film?
TG: I want people to feel inspired and feel empowered. I want people to be like, I’m going to be myself, if they didn’t feel that way before. That’s very simple, but that is my hope.
Darwin Del Fabro (Gabriel), Cooper Koch (Stu), Monique Kim (Veronica), & Anna Lore (Kim)
DP: Let me begin by asking, how exciting was it to be involved with They/Them?
CK: Oh my God, so excited!
AL: I think I speak for us all when we say, our dreams came true in this movie.
DP: And what was it like working alongside Kevin Bacon? I can’t imagine how surreal that was.
MK: The first day, thank God they started coverage on him because my lip was just quivering. It was just doing its own thing!
AL: When you tell your friends and family, oh, I’m going to do a movie, they’re like, that’s cool. No one really cares until they see the movie, but if you tell your family and friends, I’m doing a movie with Kevin Bacon, then you are legit!
DP: Cooper, you play Stu, Darwin plays Gabriel, Monique is Veronica, and Anna is Kim. What did you enjoy the most about playing these characters?
DDF: For me, it was the range of emotions that Gabriel can explore and the celebration of uniqueness that I was able to portray with this role. It’s very moving and it’s very rare when the Brazilian actor has an opportunity to have such a strong character. So, for me, it’s the strength, the queerness of it, and the celebration of being unique.
CK: For me, Stu really has a journey. He’s so different from the beginning of the film to the end, and he really comes to himself. He starts to accept himself and other people around him, and I think that was a beautiful and fun journey to go on.
AL: One of my favorite things about Kim is that she is really thoughtful. There’s a beautiful scene in the woods between Monique and I, where Kim is really trying to figure things out. I mean, she’s thinking about trans people for the first time in her life, and her instinct isn’t hatred or disgust. It’s like, I’m lost. I want to understand this. I want to be a part of this, but I just don’t get it, and I think that’s a beautiful angle to see. A person who’s trying to love and come into an understanding.
MK: As an Asian American actor, just having the opportunity to play a queer character in a queer love story, to to play a person I wish I could have seen growing up, it was a dream come true.
DP: Ultimately, what do you hope audiences take away from They/Them?
CK: I hope they have a great time, and they get scared.
DDF: I think it also sends the message that you are perfect just the way you are. You’re special, and there’s nothing wrong with you. Your strength is your uniqueness, and I hope audiences can get that from our movie. It’s beautiful.
DP: Do you believe this film is timely for today’s pop culture climate?
MK: One thousand percent! With all the bills and laws that are going around, I don’t think there’s enough awareness. Even for conversion therapy camps. There are 80,000 kids a year going through it, 700,000 people have experienced it in the U.S., and there are 25 states where it’s not outlawed. This is happening as we’re speaking right now, so yes, it’s very timely. We need to take some action.
AL: I just think it’s great that we’re seeing queer and trans people as the heroes of the film. They’re the leads in the story and not a trope. They’re not something just to be used as this plot device. We are in this film and we’re being seen.
CK: It’s empowering.
John Logan (Writer & Director)
DP: How did it feel to make your directorial debut with They/Them?
JL: Oh, it feels tremendous. I’ve had a lifetime of sitting on the set next to directors like Martin Scorsese, Sam Mendes, Tim Burton, and seeing the way they maneuver through the world, getting to sit in the big chair myself was a real joy.
DP: What did you personally take away from this experience?
JL: I took away the fact that I wouldn’t mind doing it again because it was very fulfilling to work with the actors so closely and to help build the whole world.
DP: I read that the idea for this movie has been germinating in your mind for many years. What was the initial inspiration behind the story, and why did you finally decide to adapt into a film?
JL: I’ve been a horror fan since I was six. Ever since I could first watch Dracula and Frankenstein on a black and white TV back in San Pedro, California (laughs). But horror has a really complicated relationship with gender and sexual identity, and when I was growing up, queer characters were mostly non-existent. If they did exist, they were victims and jokes, never the hero. I know how much it would have meant to me to see a queer hero in a horror movie, so I’ve been thinking about that for a long time, turning it around, and thinking about the tropes in slasher movies like the final girl, the camp in the woods, and the masked killer. Then COVID happened, and like every other writer I know, I had a chance to write something fresh and from their heart. So, I wrote this.
DP: Ultimately, what do you hope audiences take away from the film?
JL: I think more than anything, the film means to be a celebration of these queer kids. To recognize the fact that we as a society are stronger for all the individual people we can celebrate, and these characters come together with pride and strength, and it’s sort of a glorious thing to see queer characters triumph so strongly. I hope it’s very uplifting for audiences.
DP: Do you believe They/Them is timely for today’s pop culture climate?
JL: Absolutely. Not only the pop culture climate, but the social climate because we live in a moment where queer and human rights are being threatened everywhere you turn. Not only in America, but around the world, so to be able to tell a story that celebrates difference and says that you’re perfect just the way you are, and to take pride in that and be joyous about it, I think it’s very timely. Thankfully, horror has been embracing queer stories in an exciting way in the last 5-10 years, so I’m glad to be able to build on the work of people who have come before me and hopefully open the door for some new people.
DP: They/Them has a stellar cast and crew. What was it like working with everyone?
JL: It was so amazing, and it starts with Kevin Bacon. When I started writing the character of Owen Whistler, Kevin just kept coming into my head. His voice and personality, Kevin has that incredible ability to go from utterly charming to absolutely terrifying, and that’s what the character had to do. I just couldn’t get Kevin out of my head as I was writing, and thankfully, Kevin liked the part and saw the point of the movie. So, he was our great company leader from day one. Then the protagonist of the film is Jordan, Theo Germaine’s character, and the movie begins and ends with Jordan’s face. As soon as I met Theo, I knew I had a protagonist, and they brought such intelligence and heart to the part. Every day on the set with Theo was incredibly fulfilling.
