Jordan Firstman, fresh off directorial debut “Club Kid” – acquired by A24 for release this November – leads the English-language voice cast of “Jim Queen.”
Variety reveals the exclusive first clip here:
The animated comedy, directed by Marco Nguyen and Nicolas Athané, premiered at Cannes to rave reviews. Variety’s Guy Lodge called it a “hilarious rare shot of broad comedy that plays like a queer ‘South Park’ on literal steroids.”
“Club Kid,” which Firstman starred in, wrote and produced, also took Cannes by storm, sparking a bidding war.
He’s currently in production on Season 2 of the hit HBO series “I Love LA,” and has also starred in FX’s “English Teacher” and Mubi’s “Rotting in the Sun.” He’s represented by UTA, The Lede Company and Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz.
Firstman is joined by Mateo Lane, currently on his third international stand-up tour, “We Gotta Catch Up!” Most recently, Lane made his Broadway debut as Billy Flynn in “Chicago” at New York’s Ambassador Theatre, the longest-running American musical in Broadway history.
Nicole Byer (“Nailed It!”), John Cameron Mitchell (“Hedwig and the Angry Inch”), Bob the Drag Queen (“We’re Here,” “RuPaul’s Drag Race”) and Wendie Malick (“Shrinking”) round out the cast.
M’saada Nia and Wolfie Trausch lead casting and recording of the English language version of the film, while Moby and Lindsay Hick’s Little Walnut is producing the English-language version alongside Bobbypills.
Global Constellation is privately screening the English-language version, featuring the U.S. voice cast, to North American buyers at TIFF over the weekend, as U.S. distribution rights are currently in negotiation.
Following its buzzy Cannes premiere – which Thierry Frémaux hailed as “one of the most beautiful in the festival’s history in terms of atmosphere, comparable to what ‘The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert’ once was” – the film was released in French theaters by The Jokers Films on June 17, debuting at #3 at the box office – behind only “Toy Story 5” and “Backrooms.”
To date, “Jim Queen” is edging close to 400,000 admissions and $3 million at the French box office, and is rolling out theatrically across more than 25 international territories in the months ahead.
U.S. distribution rights remain available and are currently in negotiation.
Produced by Bobbypills founder David Alric and Arthur Delabays, “Jim Queen” starts when Heterosis, a mysterious virus that turns gay men straight, sweeps through the Parisian gay scene. Jim, the six-packed sovereign of the Gym Queens, goes from Pride royalty to social outcast. With only Lucien, a freshly out twink with more heart than abs, still by his side, Jim must race to find a cure before the disease erases the community that once worshipped him.
Co-written with Simon Balteaux and Brice Chevillard, “Jim Queen” is produced by Bobbypills, one of Europe’s leading adult animation studios. It’s behind James Gunn’s “Creature Commandos,” the first television series and first official chapter of the DC Universe, for DC Studios and Warner Bros. Animation.
Its credits also include “Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix,” produced with Ubisoft Film & Television for Netflix, as well as the adult animated series “Crisis Jung” and “Vermin,” both streaming on Netflix.
“Let’s face it – gay guys are obsessed with the way we look. It can be tough in this world, because you have to be in shape and you have to be young. I’m 43, and guys look at me differently,” Balteaux told Variety back in May.
“I used to be a Gym Queen myself. Now, I’m going to be a Daddy. It’s the next step, so I’m making fun of myself too. Although I’ll still go to the gym tomorrow.”
Nguyen added: “There’s a lot of toxic masculinity in the gay community, too. You think it’s enough to say you’re gay, only to realize you don’t fit the standards because you weigh too much. It was very liberating to write this, and to write these jokes, because we talked about what we’ve experienced.”
Co-produced by Umedia (“The Count of Monte Cristo,” “Night of the Zoopocalypse”), it’s executive produced by Moby and Lindsay Hicks for Little Walnut in the U.S., and Katarzyna Janiak and Jacek Świgost for Timeless Studios, Arthur Cohen for Momentum Entertainment, and Fabien Westerhoff for Global Constellation.
“I guess we made a political film, but it’s also because laughter can be a weapon,” said Balteaux.
“We’re very lucky – we live in a country where ‘Jim Queen’ could be made. But we still think of those in Senegal and trans people, also in the U.S. Maybe it will lighten their reality a little.”
