Jim Parsons and Ben Aldridge on Shirley MacLaine impressions and gay joy inSpoiler Alert

Jim Parsonswanted to do justice to two people while makingSpoiler Alert.

whose 2017 memoir,Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies, is the basis for the film.

The other?Shirley MacLaine.

Focus Features

“Give my husband a bed!”

he demands, banging his fists on the counter.

TheBig Bang Theoryactor continues, “I know that movie very well.

Linda Källérus / FOCUS FEATURES

It’s one of my favorite movies of all time.

But the day of, I did do a quick YouTube of ‘Give my daughter the shot!’

But more than a cancer movie, the film is a moving and complex portrait of a relationship.

Linda Källérus / FOCUS FEATURES

We called up Parsons and Aldridge to talk about how they brought such poignancy to the story.

Did you know Michael Ausiello as a journalist, or what brought you to the book?

JIM PARSONS:I knew Michael well enough.

Giovanni Rufino/2022 FOCUS FEATURES, Michael Ausiello/Instagram

Not socially, but I had done several interviews over the years with him.

I read his book.

And I said, “I don’t know.”

Did both of you have access to Michael to ask him questions?

BEN ALDRIDGE:Michael was extremely generous.

Once I’d finished the book, we started emailing and he just made himself an open resource.

He’d also saved so many of Kit’s artifacts.

The black point-and-shoot that I’m using in the film is Kit’s actual camera.

Of course, that added a certain level of pressure and responsibility.

How much Michael loves Kit is so evident in the book and could have overwhelmed me.

But I do think of how good-looking he felt Kit was, how out-of-his-league he felt he was.

And Kit’s Flickr account.

That gave me a surprising insight into how he saw the world and his humor.

He was a documentarian, so he took photos of really funny and beautiful things.

That helped me to try and see the world the way he did a little bit.

Jim, I know those Smurfs are all actually from Michael’s collection.

How did you befriend them?

Did you become comfortable with them as yours?

And I just became peaceful with it.

They had created that bedroom and the apartment, and we had not seen it.

There was talk of maybe not letting us see it until we walked in the first time.

I was like, “Absolutely not.

First off, it’s my room as character.

I would know what it looked like.”

But I was like, “I need to see this.”

Thank God we did.

But not as overwhelming as hearing from Ausiello that that was just the tip of the iceberg.

How were you two able to find all those layers in what is just a handful of scenes?

PARSONS:The screenplay helped.

Actually, the first time we ever worked together was getting the stage-four diagnosis.

We really jumped in the deep end.

There’s such clarity in those harsh moments.The more amorphous stuff is the cat-and-mouse of getting to know somebody.

We knew where we were headed.

ALDRIDGE:Another thing that really helped us is that we started as soon as it all came together.

Jim emailed me and the subject just said, “Let’s start.”

I was going be in New York for a day before we started filming.

PARSONS:We had no time to meet each other.

ALDRIDGE:So over about two or three months, we emailed long letters.

That meant that we weren’t going in cold.

Even though we didn’t know each other in real life, we knew a lot about each other.

Sally Fieldmentionedthat she had an opportunity to find out a lot of things through improv.

Was that the same for both of you?

And if so, what were some of your favorite moments that you discovered?

We would refer back to the book often the night before.

But sometimes moments of dialogue from that would filter their way through into improv and the scene.

As scripted, it cuts to outside the windows and you don’t hear him saying it.

PARSONS:I remember when Showalter told Ben, he’s like, “Just talk about it.”

I was like, “I would lose my mind if he said that to me.”

You want me to describe in my own words somebody’s cancer diagnosis and their journey?

Also, to improvise it to Sally.

Was that the case for you?

ALDRIDGE:No, not a physical process.

The way in which we filmed it meant there was no window to lose weight.

That’s all makeup.

Three hours in a chair to get that.

I wouldn’t call that grueling, either.

I would be often hit with a wave of emotion for Kit.

My empathy would be really dialed up.

But it was really extreme suffering.

And sometimes I’d be hit with the fact that someone really lived this.

That final goodbye on the bed is so devastating.

Jim, tell me more about the head space for that.

I can’t imagine it was a good place to live in for the day.

PARSONS:It’s funny because it was and it wasn’t.

It was an honor to get to be there.

It is really the depth of humanity in a moment like that.

The goodbye in the book that Michael wrote was different than that.

There were a lot of similar words used.

But it was so apparent, the soul-to-soul speaking that was going on right there.

Viewers have mainly come to know you as a comic actor.

Would you rank this as one of the hardest scenes you’ve had to tackle?

PARSONS:Oh, no.

Only in that there was a clarity of purpose.

The acting part of it wasn’t difficult at all.

There’s nothing more human than looking death in the face.

One thing I really was touched by in this film was it’s restraint.

It’s not emotionally manipulative.

Did you have to both check yourselves or work hard to maintain that?

ALDRIDGE:Michael Showalter is the author of that element of it, really.

He never came on set and said, “Don’t cry.”

He never came on and said, “Restrain that.

Pull that back.”

He would always allow me and Jim to be inside the moment.

In the Kit TV surreal moment, it’s their final goodbye and it feels so momentous.

My instinct was I wanted Kit to show Michael that he loved him.

Michael Showalter was more interested in Kit saying a gracious and loving and peaceful goodbye.

This is my moment too!”

Predominantly in culture, we’ve had stories of gay tragedy, not gay joy.Spoiler Alertis both.

Did you feel pressure to check that both of those things were given equal weight?

PARSONS:I didn’t.

ALDRIDGE:I didn’t either.

But that’s because also there is a lot of tragedy in the gay narrative.

It’s a way in which my generation has learned about history.

Those stories, about HIV and gay shame, are so important.

I understand the need and the want and the craving for just joyful stories about ourselves.

This is more leaning toward that, but I don’t think that was by design.

It’s a real story that really happened.

It’s a rare experience.

Spoiler Alertis now in theaters.