The filmmakers behind Boy Erased have joined forces with the creators of Radiolab for a podcast on conversion therapy, The Advocate has learned through an exclusive press release.
The four-part series, called UnErased, will tell the history of the "pray away the gay" movement in the United States and abroad through interviews with its creators, critics, and survivors. Source materials were also provided by the Mattachine Society, an LGBTQ archive. It debuts this fall.
UnErased is produced by Limina House, which was started by Mikel Ellcessor for Focus Features and Anonymous Content. Ellcessor is a cocreator of Radiolab — the popular WNYC radio program about science and philosophy — with Jad Abumrad, who also works on UnErased as an editor and interviewer.
Other members of the production team include Kat Aaron, Alice Quinlan, and Shima Oliaee as well as Boy Erased''s Garrard Conley and David Joseph Craig, an actor and co-producer of the film.
Conley's book, Boy Erased: A Memoir, which details his survival of conversion therapy as a teen, is the source material for the Focus Features film premiering this November. Directed by Joel Edgerton, the film stars Lucas Hedges, Nicole Kidman, and Russell Crowe as members of a family impacted by the harmful and disproven practice, which attempts to "convert" an individual from gay to straight.
It is estimated that nearly 700,000 LGBTQ Americans have been subjected to "ex-gay" therapy, according to a report from the Williams Institute.
“Boy Erased tells a deeply personal story; UnErased tells the whole story," said Conley and Craig in a statement sent to The Advocate. "Combining one of the most comprehensive conversion therapy histories to date, survivors’ accounts, and exclusive interviews, UnErased will pick up where the memoir and film leave off." The podcast, they said, aims "to usher our queer stories into the permanent archives of American history, where they have always belonged."
“It’s our hope that fans of the film, Garrard’s memoir, and the podcast series will immerse themselves in all of these different works so they can have a richer understanding of the context of Garrard’s story. It’s a story that is shared by hundreds of thousands of others and goes on today,” said Ellcessor. He added, "Being a part of Boy Erased is a privilege."
UnErased will be available to stream on all podcast services on November 2, when Boy Erased debuts. Subscribers of Stitcher Premium will have early access to the series several weeks beforehand.
READER COMMENTS (