Spoiler Alert Trailer: A Rare Love Story That Doesn't Hide Its Tear-Jerking Ending
If a story is based on real-life events, can it ever really be spoiled? That's one of those infamous internet arguments that will rage on until the end of time, especially as the biopics keep pouring in from Hollywood. But the latest entry into the genre doesn't care how you feel about knowing the ending — it's leading with the inevitable, then rewinding to tell the full story.
"Spoiler Alert" is based on the memoir by TVLine founder and entertainment reporter Michael Ausiello, and follows the 14-year relationship between Michael (Jim Parsons) and Kit (Ben Aldridge) prior to Kit's eventual death from cancer. Everything — from the synopsis to the trailer to the title of the memoir — openly reveals this film's ending: "Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies."
Toeing the line between heartwarming and tearjerking, "Spoiler Alert" looks to be in very good hands with director Michael Showalter, known for penning "Wet Hot American Summer" and helming prestigious projects like "The Eyes of Tammy Faye" and "The Big Sick." Much like his last romantic venture, "Spoiler Alert" isn't so much a romcom as it is a love story.
The film was written by David Marshall Grant ("Smash," "A Million Little Things") and Dan Savage. Along with Parsons as Ausiello and Aldridge as Cowan, the film will star Oscar winner Sally Field, Bill Irwin ("Legion") and Nikki M. James ("Severance"), "Queer Eye" TV personality Antoni Porowski, Jeffery Self ("Search Party"), and Tara Summers ("Master of None"). Check out the first trailer below.
Watch the trailer for Spoiler Alert
We'll get to the Kleenex-worthy moments in a sec. For now, I'd just like to point out that "Spoiler Alert" is not the first romance movie to include a smurf collection as a surprise subplot and I'm pretty convinced that it won't be the last. But this one is extra special because Showalter revealed to Vanity Fair that the Smurfs in the film are from Ausiello's real collection. "Those are Michael Ausiello's actual Smurfs," Showalter said, adding, "I don't think that was all of [them]."
A wonderful addition to the romcom cannon, the Smurf collection will likely spark a hilarious interaction between the two men as their romance begins. So if you're on the hunt for positive queer vibes this holiday season, then it looks like "Spoiler Alert" has you covered. At least at the beginning. Initially, the film tracks the courtship of Michael and Kit, who begin a romance that spans 14 years. But the bulk of the film delves into heavier territory, following the "final 11-month period of photographer Kit Cowan's life, from his diagnosis with terminal cancer to his death, through the eyes of his lover Michael Ausiello and their relationship."
"Spoiler Alert" premieres in select theaters on December 2, 2022, followed by a nationwide rollout on December 16, 2022.
Based on Michael Ausiello's best-selling memoir, Spoiler Alert follows Ausiello as he unpacks the emotional maelstrom into which his relationship was plunged in the 11 months that took his partner, photographer Kit, from his diagnosis with terminal cancer to his passing. Interwoven in the narrative are glimpses of the roller-coaster ride that was the couple's 14-year romance.