Jordan Firstman’s Club Kid cinematically grows into adulthood while questioning the idea of family in a New York queer nightlife setting.
Released by A24 this month, Club Kid is Firstman’s feature film directorial debut. He also wrote the piece and stars as Peter, a club promoter who discovers he has a biological British son named Arlo, played by Reggie Absolom, as a result of a wild night out on the town. Peter’s crucial journey to discover what it means to be the father of a 10-year-old and become responsible comes with life lessons for diverse audiences.
Much like his character, Firstman is gay and Jewish from New York. He began his career with comedy skits and writing material for the television show Search Party. He portrayed a wide variety of characters on Disney+ Ms. Marvel, FX’s English Teacher and HBO Max’s Hacks.
In 2025, he landed a recurring role as Charlie on the HBO Max show, I Love LA and he released a comedy album, Secrets.
Firstman visited the Windy City on Oct. 14 for the opening night screening of Club Kid at the Chicago International Film Festival, where he accepted the organization’s Breakthrough Award.
Windy City Times: Where are you from originally?
Jordan Firstman: I am from Long Island, like it or not.
WCT: How long was the incubation of your baby Club Kid?
JF: It is definitely my baby and it took longer than a normal baby would take. [laughs] It took three years from start to finish. I started writing it and then I took a break. I came back to it after some life events happened, which deepened the script.
The writing process was slow, but the production part was fast. Once I had a decent version of the script, it was off to the races and things happened really fast. We sent out the script in January of last year and we had the financing by March. It went into pre-production by July, when it was cast. We shot it a year ago now and edited it this past winter in March.
WCT: Did you know people like Amanda Lepore before this to cast them?
JF: No. We called in every favor we could to find people. I have been a part of the queer nightlife community for 15 years and I knew enough people to get to Amanda Lepore. I had to explain to her the meaning of the project and how I would be honored to have her in it.
The casting was a lot of work to make it perfect. I had a vision in my head and I had some people in mind for their roles.
I also had people I had no idea where I wanted them, like Eldar Isgandarov, who played Nicky, for example. The part was written as a Midwestern, demon twink kind of character. When he came in with his Azerbaijani accent and it totally reframed the whole character for me, so I rewrote it.
Diego Calva was the same thing. Oscar was a completely different character, but after meeting him, I did a complete rewrite.
Casting Club Kid was a puzzle, but a lot of fun to do. All of the party people who were not actors had to audition. We had to make sure they could do the job.
WCT: How much of the queer slang dialogue was improvised?
JF: Realness was the number one goal all of the time. If I wrote a line that wasn’t coming out of Alaska Riley or Saturn Risin9’s mouths naturally, then I had them say it as they normally would. I had things scripted, but they could take whatever liberties made them feel more comfortable, especially within the friend group. Miss Benny was the only person in that friend group who had acted before this and we had a big, chunky scene to shoot. We read through it. I told them not to feel pressured and that it might be rough.
I was shocked about what happened. From the first take, it felt like we were at the club together and it was perfect. It was crazy and it was exactly how I heard it in my head. We were talking over each other naturally and it felt alive.
WCT: Was it hard to find Reggie Absolom for the crucial part of Reggie?
JF: There was a lot of consideration, but personally, the second I saw Reggie’s face, I knew it was him. It was a hard character to cast because there were kids who were way smaller than him, which could have made him feel more in danger in the big city. I always wanted Arlo to have a natural wisdom and an actual coolness to him. I even describe him in the movie as cool, so he had to be that way. I saw a lot of child actors who were great, but didn’t have a coolness about them.
I went to London on my birthday and I took him and his parents out for ice cream. I sent all of the final competing kids the playlist that I set the movie to. I wanted to see what their music tastes were like. I sent them artists like Massive Attack and Elliott Smith. I asked them who resonated with them the most and Reggie loved Massive Attack.
WCT: The music was vital in the film, like Cocteau Twins and ShyGirl being herself.
JF: The music was important to me and it is consistent in my life. Music is with me daily and I always have my headphones on.
That was the fun part when I realized I could make a movie from my playlist. Somehow it flowed right. There are so many genres of music in this movie, but they all flow together.
I don’t have the most niche taste in the world, so that helped make it come together.
WCT: The Cocteau Twins’ guitarist Robin Guthrie told me that singer Elizabeth Fraser will never perform with them again.
JF: I tried to see if they would score the movie, but it wasn’t possible.
WCT: What did the t-shirt writing Take Off Your Clothes, Chicago mean in the film?
JF: That’s an Emily Dawn Long t-shirt. She’s an amazing New York designer and we had a few pieces of hers in the movie. Our costume designer, Emily Costantino, is friends with her.
She takes vintage shirts and puts her own Take Off Your Clothes motto on them. The Chicago part was from a previous shirt with her design on top of it.
WCT: Who did you make Club Kid for?
JF: I started making it for me and as I wrote my personal story, it became a universal story for everyone else. It is the first thing I have written where I had the audience in mind. I wanted to talk about some difficult and painful things for me. I want the movie to feel like someone is getting a big hug from a close friend after they confess that they need help.
WCT: You address the stereotyping of Latin culture through Oscar in a subtle way.
JF: That came through character. To me, Oscar is someone who does not represent all of Latin culture. It’s the same with Peter, who doesn’t represent all gay people. Oscar is someone who came out later in life and he’s focused on his career.
These two characters show the different experiences we have as gay men.
WCT: What are the differences between you and Peter?
JF: We all have a party planner in us and can be someone who takes care of others at the party. I am always on a mission for my friends at parties and I want to ensure everyone is safe while having a good time. There is some overlap there where we both have some loneliness and melancholy.
I am more in control of my life than he is and more ambitious, but I hope that our hearts are similar.
WCT: The courtroom scene came across like you were pleading with the straight community to accept the LGBTQ+ community. Was that intentional?
JF: That’s what I wanted the magic trick of the movie to be. When you see Arlo DJ for the first time, it is obvious he’s expressing himself and it’s a good thing for everyone involved.
When you hear about our life from a judge in a courtroom of straight people, everyone can see how different our two worlds are and how ostracized LGBTQ people are from society in many ways.
Fighting for our community is necessary, but it can also be harmful to us. I wanted to confront all of it out in the open.
Club Kid parties in Chicago theaters: AMC River East 21, Landmark’s Century Centre Cinema and Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Wrigleyville on Friday, Nov. 13.