James Franco recently signed on for double cinematic duty in The Deuce, where he’ll play twin porn impresarios for David Simon. But in Justin Kelly’s new film, I Am Michael, Franco will juggle multiple lives and beliefs while depicting a single man. That’s Michael Glatze, a former gay activist turned “ex-gay movement” poster boy. Franco stars as Glatze, who, at the outset of the trailer, appears to be very much in love with Bennett (Zachary Quinto), a fellow gay rights advocate. But, just as the real Glatze went on to denounce homosexuality and marry a woman (played here by Emma Roberts), I Am Michael delves into Glatze’s “conversion” to heterosexuality. (The real-life Glatze left the ex-gay movement, and apologized for some of the rhetoric he helped generate.)
I Am Michael also stars Daryl Hannah, Leslie Ann Warren, and Avan Jogia. It’s scheduled for release on January 27.