Hollywood Flashback: ‘Life Partner’ Depicts Fire Island Tragedy

it-com island of firePremiering June 3, it takes place in a coastal community near Long Island chosen by stone New Yorkers since the 1930s. The setting, populated by populations of carless white-tailed deer, was once the film’s backdrop. , especially in the 2014 adaptation by Ryan Murphy. a normal heart For HBO, before that in the 1989 drama A longtime companion.

In both, Fire Island is portrayed as a gay utopia, a carefree platform that will soon end with the emergence of a mysterious and deadly disease that seems to affect gay men. Coworker – which was launched because the AIDS epidemic was still on the rise, with no treatment at first sight – was a breakthrough in every sense of the word.

Written by playwright Craig Lucas and directed by theater director Norman René, it was only the second major AIDS film (the first was a 1985 TV movie). early frost). The title refers to the euphemism he uses. უ New York Times For surviving partners of AIDS victims. And the film, which covers the first eight years of the epidemic, opens with a cast of strangers at the time, including Dermot Malron, then 25, Campbell Scott, 27, and Mary-Louise Parker, 24, lounging on Fire Island and arguing. This one. Schedules Report on the identification of “rare cancer” in “41 homosexuals”.

Patrick Cassidy was 26 years old when he was cast as Howard, a soap star who lost his partner to AIDS. “I lived in New York for 81 to 86 years,” recalls Cassidy. “I know what it’s about. We knew we were doing something very important. [with this film].” Cassidy recalls that audiences “cried a lot” at early showings, especially at Bruce Davison’s bedside bidding farewell to his dying partner in the role that earned Davison an Oscar nomination (the film’s first Academy acknowledgment). AIDS, previously). Philadelphia for four years).

The audience also cried at the end, wondering where the dead and the living meet on the shores of Isla del Fuego. “I lost my best friend to AIDS,” Cassidy said. “It changed me.” One of them was René, who died in 1996.

The story first appeared in the June 1 issue of The Hollywood Reporter. Click here to subscribe.