SIX OF THE BEST: GBF Director Darren Stein

19th March 2014

Welcome to another edition of SIX OF THE BEST, the semi regular part of BRWC where we fire six questions at lovely people. This time, we talk to Darren Stein, director of GBF.

How did we get to GBF?

It was really a moment happening in American culture, this notion of teenage girls wanting a G.B.F. as a new must-have accessory. The writer George Northy read about the phenomenon about five years ago and saw the absurdity and hilarity of it. We’re finally at a time in culture where being gay isn’t such a taboo. A 14-year-old girl can have a gay friend and not have any fear or concern about his sexual preference and how it will negatively affect her reputation. It’s not the issue it once was. Though gays shouldn’t be treated as accessories either. It’s about treating everyone on their own terms.

Was it a fun shoot? I imagine there is a load of bloopers, etc.

The shoot was a blast. With a teen comedy with such a big ensemble, the set becomes a bit like high school. Luckily, it didn’t come down to who was going to sit with who at lunch. The lines were just so funny and the characters so well written, that I encouraged the actors to improvise and bring their own ideas to the scenes. It was a true collaboration. It’s important for that sense of fun and camaraderie to translate on to the screen.

Any teen movies you come back to?

Dazed and Confused is major for me. It was such a slice of life and captured the 70s with such detail. Parker Posey alone! I love Fast Times at Ridgemont High for it’s 80s authenticity as well. I do have such nostalgia for the past. I think teen films are really about looking back on a time in your life that was simpler and more innocent yet still fraught with stress. But when you’re watching a teen film, it’s more about the humor and memories, less about the pain of it – at least for me.

What do you want people to take from the film?

I would love gays to see themselves in it and there have been many people on twitter who have felt like this is their story. And it would be nice for everyone else to enjoy the film as they would any other teen movie. I want people to have a good time with it but also to see perhaps what it’s like to be gay in high school – and in life- and how subtlely marginalizing that can be. It’s nice that there’s this GBF moment happening in schools, but to this day, gayness is not fully accepted. Tolerance continues to be a work-in-progress. High school is a microcosm of the world at large.

So what are you working on at the moment?

I’m writing one of the Flowers in the Attic sequels for the Lifetime Network – The Seeds of Yesterday. It’s been quite a departure diving in to the dark, incestuous world of V.C. Andrews. I’m also writing the libretto to Jawbreaker: the Musical. We’re having a workshop in Seattle this summer. It’s been many years in the making. Musical theater takes even longer than movies but I think it will be worth it.

Anything else you want to get off your chest?!

That’s it. Thanks!

G.B.F. is out on demand 22^nd March and on UK Exclusive Blu-ray and DVD. Order from Amazon and Play.

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