EXCLUSIVE: Jim Parsons previews gay dramedy ‘Spoiler Alert,’ reveals touching personal connection – Queerty
Spoiler alert: This one might make you cry. And laugh. And swoon. And cry some more.
That’s certainly the reaction Jim Parsons had when he first picked up the memoir Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies, in which celebrated entertainment journalist (and TVLine co-founder) Michael Ausiello recounts his husband Kit Cowan’s terminal cancer diagnosis and their final months together.
“I will be honest, the book sat on the counter for several weeks until I was taking this little vacation—I thought it’d be a good time to read it,” Parsons reveals to Queerty with a chuckle. “Which is true and not true, because I was devastated by it.”
Still, he couldn’t put it down. “I can’t imagine anybody else writing with such precision and clarity what it is to stand next to somebody as they go on this end-of-life journey like this.” He was so moved, in fact, that he optioned the film rights shortly after finishing the book. For Parsons, the urge to tell Ausiello’s life-affirming story on the big screen was “irresistible.”
Fast forward to five years later, and the actor is thrilled to share the first trailer for Spoiler Alert, a heartwarming adaptation of the memoir—which stars Ben Aldridge, Sally Field, Bill Irwin, Jeffrey Self, and Parsons himself as his friend Michael Ausiello.
Watch the brand-new trailer here, and then head below to read more from Queerty‘s exclusive conversation with Parsons and Spoiler Alert director Michael Showalter:
Thanks to their work on—and about—television, Parsons and Ausiello’s paths had crossed many times over the years. According to the actor, he’s long felt a strong personal connection to the story of Ausiello and his husband, who passed in 2015.
“[Their] story echoed so many facets of my own life—not the tragic part of the journey, by the grace of God—but the long-term relationship,” Parsons shares. He and his husband are roughly the same age, they also met in New York City, and their careers, similarly, found them contending with long-distance coupledom.
“It was really, really easy for me to emotionally put myself in Michael’s shoes, even just reading the book… The thought of having to go through something like that with someone that has been a part of your life that long—that’s what made me so attached to the to the story, the journey he goes on.”
Once the adaptation was set in motion with Parsons’ production company, That’s Wonderful Productions, the next step was to find a director. Parsons was a fan of Michael Showalter’s The Big Sick—the 2017 rom-com about a couple grappling with serious medical issues—particularly in how it blended comedy with heartfelt emotion. But he didn’t think the filmmaker would be interested.
Related: Michael Showalter stares into ‘The Eyes of Tammy Faye’ and resurrects an icon
“I didn’t know if he’d want to do another couple-in-a-hospital situation,” cracks Parsons. “So we were just going for ‘a Michael Showalter type.’”
Sure enough, Showalter (who last directed Jessica Chastain to an Oscar in The Eyes Of Tammy Faye) had already read—and was “blown away by”—the memoir. He was the one to call Parsons and make a case for the director gig. It was an immediate yes.
Just as immediate was their decision to cast British actor Ben Aldridge (Fleabag, Pennyworth, the upcoming Knock At The Cabin) as Parsons’ on-screen partner. Though his audition was over Zoom, the pair felt, within minutes of meeting him, that Aldridge was the one.
“I never knew exactly what he was going to do,” recalls Parsons. “And I knew, at some level, he didn’t know exactly what I was going to do… And there was something that mimics, for me at least, that kind of feeling you have with those that are most intimate in your lives. That’s what sparks about them—they do surprise you, and they make you laugh, or they anger you because you didn’t see it coming.”
As the first major film role for Aldridge, Spoiler Alert should prove to be a fantastic introduction to this talent on the rise. “He’s an extremely kind, empathetic soul,” Parsons says. “You couldn’t have asked for somebody to embody and handle the spirit and memory of Kit any better than than Ben did.”
And it should be said that, despite the heavy subject matter, the film—just like the memoir itself—knows the value of a good laugh. Take, for instance, the moment in the trailer when we flashback to Kit’s first time visiting Michael’s place and finding… a museum-level collection of Smurfs memorabilia.
Believe it or not, the detail is pulled directly out of Ausiello’s life: What started as a childhood obsession with the iconic blue characters has grown into a prized menagerie of collectibles, one with huge sentimental value for the writer.
While Parsons jokes that an in-depth Smurfs fandom was not a prerequisite to work on the film, he and Showalter acknowledge what an important role they play in Spoiler Alert.
Related: Here’s all of the queer, must-see movies and TV shows headed your way this fall
“It’s something in the movie that’s so funny,” the director says, “But it’s also something that really connects us to the character, and it really humanizes him. We can all relate to having parts of ourselves that are very central to who we are as human beings, but we’re afraid to show other people because, “What will they think of [me?] Will they laugh?” Will they judge us? So I think it’s it works on a lot of different levels.”
[And, for the record, that is Ausiello’s actual Smurf collection in the film, which he was kind enough to loan to the production—so long as it was returned to him in mint condition.]
Whether Smurf or human, anyone can relate to Spoiler Alert‘s universal story of “love and loss, heartbreak and mortality.” But it’s not lost on Parsons that he, as an out gay man, gets to act opposite another out gay man, playing a gay couple at the center of a major theatrical release. “It thrills me!,” he admits excitedly.
“This story assumes, when you buy a ticket, that you’re okay with gay love… And that’s whats so beautiful about it,” says Parsons. “It’s so reflective of certain changes [in our society,] because—it’s not that it’s incidental that it’s a gay couple we’re playing—but, at the same time, it’s so much more about a general humanity than it is about a sexuality. And I really, really treasure that.”
Spoiler Alert premieres in select theaters on December 2, and then opens nationwide on December 16.