NEW YORK – Growing up, every queer person has that one gay awakening movie.
For filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun, it was watching “The Royal Tenenbaums” and wanting to make mixtapes with Gwyneth Paltrow’s smoky-eyed sphinx. Hannah Einbinder, meanwhile, was smitten with the sports comedy “Bring It On.”
“Gymnastics and cheerleading have such homoerotic overtones, so that was probably something I was responding to,” says Einbinder, seated with Schoenbrun during a recent visit to USA TODAY’s studio. “I went on to become a cheerleader from 11 to 18 and it’s like, ‘Yeah, there was also something else you were trying to do, too, girl!’ ”
Einbinder, 31, is now starring in Schoenbrun’s erotic horror fantasia “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” (in select theaters
now, nationwide Aug. 21), a highly meta exploration of how the media we consume shapes our attitudes toward sex and sexuality.
The Emmy-winning comedian plays Kris, a burgeoning queer director who’s tasked with rebooting the ‘80s slasher franchise “Camp Miasma,” which has since been deemed problematic for its trans killer Little Death (Jack Haven). She pays a visit to the series’ original “final girl” Billy Presley (Gillian Anderson), now a vampy, reclusive actress who helps Kris overcome her anxiety and shame around physical intimacy.
The film is immensely personal to Schoenbrun, 39, who uses they/them pronouns. They previously examined trans body dysphoria in 2022’s “We’re All Going to the World’s Fair” and 2024’s “I Saw the TV Glow.” With “Camp Miasma,” they wanted to show the “mystery and terror and joy” of finally being comfortable in one’s own body.
After transitioning, “I literally remember figuring out what love songs were,” Schoenbrun recalls. “You can listen and understand them intellectually, but if you haven’t dared to be yourself and get your heart broken, you’re not going to really understand. That was something I didn’t allow myself until transition.”
During production, “I remember talking to Hannah about this particular joy of first love post-transition with somebody who saw me as me,” Schoenbrun adds. “If little me could feel what I’m feeling now, little me would be like, ‘Oh, awesome. Magic is real.’ ”
Hannah Einbinder shares why sex used to feel like a 'performance'
“Camp Miasma” is the first movie for Einbinder since her TV breakthrough in “Hacks,” playing comedy writer Ava Daniels opposite Jean Smart’s comic legend Deborah Vance. Throughout the show’s five-season run, Einbinder spent most of her off time honing her stand-up, although when Schoenbrun’s script came along, she was eager to try something new as a performer.
“The film is incredibly relatable to me,” Einbinder says. A self-described “late-bloomer" who was "kind of a prude," the actress was diagnosed with ADHD as a teen and prescribed a “pretty high dose of Adderall.” Consequently, she felt disconnected from both her emotions and body for many years. She came out as bisexual in 2016, a year before graduating college.
"I think I realized I was queer first, and then I started to connect more to my sexuality after that point," Einbinder recalls. “But still, I wasn't embodied. I had no practice communicating what I wanted. … Most of my life, I was just not really there. Regardless of gender, we all get used to performance and playing certain roles, and I was doing a lot of performing.”
Schoenbrun similarly shut themselves off from intimacy growing up, although the desire was still there.
“It’s not like I didn’t know what sex was from a decent enough age, but the darkness around it was this thing where you’re not in the right body,” Schoenbrun says. As a result, “you develop this sort of irony pill. My adolescent perspective on sex was just like, ‘Ha ha, you guys are all so dumb! I’m just going to be over here not having sex!’ It’s puritanical in its own way, because you’re denying yourself human experience.”
Jane Schoenbrun won't let Hollywood 'steal my soul' after 'Camp Miasma'
Schoenbrun and Einbinder were introduced over a lengthy Zoom call to discuss the project, and bonded instantly while attending a Godspeed You! Black Emperor concert before filming started.
“It was extremely, ‘Do you wanna go do karate in the garage?’ ” Einbinder says, quoting the Will Ferrell-John C. Reilley comedy “Step Brothers.”
“We loved each other,” Schoenbrun adds. “I do my best work if I’m surrounded by people who I feel comfortable being vulnerable around. I was awed by Hannah’s work ethic, but she’s also just really brave and open-hearted. Hannah is the rare person who may be qualified for sainthood.”
“What the heck? Thanks,” Einbinder says. “Listen, I’m just trying to get to those pearly gates and eat a big old hot dog when I get there.”
Going forward, the actress wants to continue making work like “Camp Miasma” that she finds funny, meaningful and cool. The success of “Hacks” has allowed her to be more selective in her career and “I don’t take that privilege lightly.”
Schoenbrun, meanwhile, has been the lone trans person in many industry meetings and finds the state of Hollywood “pretty bleak” right now. They’re now adapting the graphic novel “Black Hole” for Netflix, although they no longer feel the need to chase what’s considered “mainstream.”
“I'm so proud of the things I've made, and I'm trying to be like, ‘Anything that's going to steal my soul from me is ultimately not it,’ ” Schoenbrun says. For a while, “I used to be like, ‘I'm going to start a production company! I'm going to be the trans JJ Abrams and we're going to totally transform everything!’ ”
“They They Abrams?” Einbinder says, cheekily grinning as Schoenbrun laughs. “Sorry, sorry!”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hannah Einbinder opens up about sex, shame and 'Camp Miasma'
