Out actor Billy Porter will direct the
feature adaptation of Camp for HBO Max.
Porter, who is best known for playing
Pray Tell on the FX series Pose, will also play the role of
Mark, a theater director, in the film, Deadline reported.
The film is based on the young adult
novel Camp by author Lev Rosen published last year by Little,
Brown Books for Young Readers in the United States.
In the novel, gay teen Randy Kapplehoff
trades in his flamboyant lifestyle in an effort to win the heart of
Hudson Aaronson-Lim, who's only into straight-acting guys. While at
Camp Outland, Randy reinvents himself as a masculine jock to win over
Hudson.
“But as he and Hudson grow closer,
Randy has to ask himself how much he is willing to change for love,”
Deadline wrote. “And is it really love anyway, if Hudson
doesn't know who he truly is?”
Dan Jinks (American Beauty, Milk),
who is producing the film, called Porter the “perfect director for
this story.”
“Billy Porter, who I’ve been
fortunate to know for more than 20 years, is the perfect director for
this story, which is both hilariously funny and also quite moving,”
said
Jinks. “I wish a movie like this was around when I was growing
up. I’m thrilled we get to make it now.”
Jinks previously said that he loved the
story because it was “a gay teenage love story that has nothing to
do with coming out.”