Jordan Firstman is hoping to join an exclusive club: the Oscars. And he might have someone on his team that can help him do it.
“Club Kid,” Firstman’s directorial debut, arrived in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section and drew a six-minute standing ovation before A24 acquired it for a reported $17 million. Suddenly, one of the internet’s more recognizable comic personalities — currently a regular on Rachel Sennott’s comedy series “I Love L.A.” — had a movie, a major distributor and a fall festival trajectory far more serious than anyone might have expected. It bowed at the Telluride Film Festival on Friday night with much anticipation for those who weren’t on the Croisette, and the film is ready to make its big splash on the circuit.
That’s the first awards story. The second may belong to one of his co-stars, Colleen Camp.
Firstman writes, directs and stars as Peter, a washed-up New York party promoter whose life on the dance floor screeches to a halt when the 10-year-old son (played by the exquisite British newcomer Reggie Absolom) he never knew existed turns up on his doorstep. The premise invites the easy shorthand — a gay “Big Daddy” — but Firstman uses it as a way into something more complete. It’s a study of responsibility, loneliness and the possibility that adulthood might begin long after you’ve stopped expecting it. The film works on three fronts with a touching script, naturalistic direction and a genuinely endearing lead turn.
A24’s fall strategy only heightens the opportunity. The company is running “Club Kid” through Telluride before heading to Toronto and New York ahead of a November release, which is the classic runway for a movie built to play as a crowd-pleaser rather than a critics’ curiosity.
This is where Camp comes in — the veteran embedded in the ensemble whom many still aren’t clocking as the film’s secret weapon.
At 73, Camp is a character actress-turned-social connector whose close friends include half the A-listers in town. By many estimates, she’s a significant reason Andrea Riseborough landed that shocking best actress nomination for “To Leslie.” Da’Vine Joy Randolph even thanked her by name from the Oscar stage while winning for “The Holdovers.” In recent years, Camp has become an influential operator on the circuit, with high-powered parties, star-studded dinners and taste-making events that have redirected more Oscar campaigns than anyone will admit on the record. Think Countess Luann from “The Real Housewives of New York,” but with real sway over the people at her table. She’s part of the reason a healthy share of today’s Oscar nominees and winners got there at all, which is exactly why it would be foolish to discount her now.
But long before she was hosting the parties, Camp was working the sets. A Hollywood lifer whose credits run from “Apocalypse Now” to “Clue,” she has spent five decades inhabiting roles that make movies richer without turning into awards contenders. In fact, she has only two award nominations on her IMDb page — from the Razzie Awards — “The Seduction” (1982) and “Sliver” (1993). Wouldn’t it be heartwarming to see that rectified in a meaningful way?
In addition, she turns up twice in A24’s awards corridor, also appearing in Chris Rock’s “Misty Green,” which is just more visibility.
That could make “Club Kid” a particularly appealing vehicle, and one that awards pundits shouldn’t underestimate. The best comeback narratives aren’t manufactured. They tend to emerge when an actor with a real body of work lands a part that reminds everyone why they loved watching them in the first place. Camp’s turn here as a kooky neighbor who stumbles into an unexpected romance is exactly the kind of role that gets a room talking (and laughing).
The challenge here is scale, because she doesn’t have a ton of screen time. Not to mention, a scene stealer isn’t automatically an Oscar performance, especially in a supporting actress field expected to be overly crowded. A24 would have to convert the affection for Camp, and the film, into a sustained argument about the work, not merely leaning on nostalgia.
But nostalgia isn’t nothing. Voters love a rediscovery story, especially when it’s attached to a movie they actually enjoyed. “Club Kid” may offer the rare double with two generations of Hollywood recognition at once; Firstman is the new face arriving from the internet, and Camp, the veteran whose face the establishment already knows.