Cooper Koch wants to star in a film adaptation of the iconic gay novel Giovanni’s Room.
In an interview with VMAN, the actor shared his top three literary works he’d love to be involved in, should they be adapted into films.
“Giovanni’s Room, All Fours, and A Little Life. Those are the top three,” Koch revealed.
Published in 1956 by the legendary James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room is widely regarded as one of the greatest LGBTQIA+ novels of all time, yet a film adaptation has never come to fruition.
Exploring themes of homosexuality, bisexuality, internalised homophobia, masculinity, and alienation, the novel follows David, an American man living in Paris who falls in love with an Italian bartender named Giovanni.
All Fours (2024), written by Miranda July, centres on a woman experiencing a sexual awakening mid-life, while A Little Life (2015) chronicles the lives of four friends as they grapple with substance abuse, sexual assault and depression.
“I don’t want it to sound like I’m conceited, like I can do whatever I want,” Koch continued. “It’s more like, I just want to do things that I feel have meaning and purpose that I’m passionate about.”
After starring in the LGBTQIA+ horror films Swallowed and They/Them (2022), Koch gained international recognition last year for his role in the second season of Ryan Murphy‘s crime anthology series Monsters.
His portrayal of Erik received widespread critical acclaim, especially for the one-take fifth episode, ‘The Hurt Man,’ earning him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film.
Since Netflix launched the series, subtitled The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, the star has been outspoken about why the Menendez brothers deserve to be released from prison.
He expanded on this in his VMAN interview, highlighting how Erik “teaches speech classes, yoga and meditation, and they help people who have been through sexual abuse”.
“They’ve gotten college degrees. They’ve found a life in prison because they’ve accepted what happened to them, and they accepted what they did. That takes such courage and bravery and strength and time,” Koch continued.
“I think for that reason they deserve to come home.”
Read Cooper Koch’s full interview with VMAN here, and check out the behind-the-scenes footage of his photoshoot below.
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