Joel Edgerton has insisted there is "enough room" for his film Boy Erased and The Miseducation of Cameron Post, which both deal with gay conversion therapy.
In mid-2017, it was announced that the Australian actor had written a screen adaptation of Garrard Conley's memoir Boy Erased, about a boy who is put through gay conversion therapy by his religious parents in an effort to stop him being homosexual.
The film, which Joel also directed and stars in, made its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival in September (18), months after the Sundance Film Festival premiere of Desiree Akhavan's The Miseducation of Cameron Post, starring Chloe Grace Moretz as a teenage girl who goes through the same scenario.
Accordingly, Joel has now admitted in an interview with BBC News that he was concerned when he first heard about the similar project, but believes there is enough space for them both to exist.
"When I first heard, as we were about to head into pre-production, that another movie was being made, I was definitely like, 'Oh, damn.' But I think that's the only time I've ever been at all worried about it," he recalled. "Because my answer to that in many ways is that every year I see that there's like 20+ superhero movies, there's dozens of romantic comedies, there's 50 horror movies... It's like, if there isn't enough room in this time for two conversion movies in one space then that's crazy."
The Red Sparrow actor was also relieved to learn they are very different in terms of how the stories are told.
"The beauty is Cameron Post's central character is a young lady, it's a cheekier satirical aspect to its tone... there are enough points of difference between that they can definitely be a different meal on the menu for different people," the 44-year-old explained.
Boy Erased, also starring Lucas Hedges, Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe, hits cinemas in February.
