Sundance: Newly Engaged ‘Theater Camp’ Stars Ben Platt and Noah Galvin Impress With Fest Debut
Asked for their thoughts on their Sundance debut in the mockumentary Theater Campnewly engaged couple Ben Platt and Noah Galvin already sounded like an old married couple in their first red carpet interview since the ring exchange.
“It feels so much more special because we really deserved it, you know? We really deserved it. We made something and they wanted us here,” Galvin said before his Tony Award-winning beau corrected him. “No one deserves anything. We are just lucky and thankful to be here.”
Noah Galvin and Ben Platt attend the Theater Camp premieres at the Eccles Theater in Park City on January 21, 2023.
Courtesy of the Sundance Institute
They made the most of their Park City rendezvous when the Molly Gibson and Nick Lieberman-directed film screened to a packed house at the Eccles. the project to a standing ovation.
Theater Camp begins with a scene that defines the rest of the film: Joan, the beloved founder of a run-down theater camp, played by Amy Sedaris, has a seizure from a flash light in a high school production of Bye bye little bird. As summer rolls around, kids come from all over to attend her camp in upstate New York, amusingly named AdirondACTS. Her unwitting “crypto brother” son Troy, played by Jimmy Tatro, is tasked with keeping the theater haven afloat as he is forced to navigate the drama with the camp staff, played by Platt, Gordon, Galvin, Ayo Edebiri, Nathan Lee Graham and Owen Thiele as they put on a production in honor of Joan.
“This is really our passion project and we made it in a very small bubble with people we really love who are close and dear partners and best friends,” said Platt, who surprised revelers at the film’s official premiere party in Acura Festival Village by performing a karaoke performance of Hamilton smash “The Schuyler Sisters.” “Now it feels insane and like an embarrassment of riches that it’s here on this amazing platform and there’s going to be a room full of people watching it and maybe someone will spread it.”
Their wish came true: Searchlight Pictures landed the cinema verité project in a global theater deal for a high seven figures.
See the Theater Camp team inside THR’s Studio at Sundance here.
Directors Nick Lieberman and Molly Gordon with their best friends and co-writers, Noah Galvin and Ben Platt, at Acura Festival Village.
Vivien Killilea/Getty Images
Ben Platt, Alexander Bello, Jack Sobolewski and Luke Islam at the Theater Camp party at Acura Festival Village.
Vivien Killilea/Getty Images
A version of this story first appeared in the January 27 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
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