‘Three Months’ Reconstructs the HIV Narrative

Although there have been tremendous medical advancements surrounding HIV treatment and prevention, pop culture has not caught up to reflect this new reality. Jared Frieder hopes to change the narrative with his coming-of-age comedy Three Months, which is inspired by his own personal experiences.

Coming to Paramount+ on February 23, Three Months stars LGBTQ actor and singer-songwriter Troye Sivan as Caleb, a queer teen, who just graduated from his South Florida high school in 2011. He is passionate about a lot of things in life such as his camera, weed, and loving grandmother, but everything changes when he discovers that he has been exposed to HIV after a condom breaks. While he waits three months for his results, Caleb finds love in the most unlikely of places.

In addition to Sivan, who also wrote two original songs for the film, Three Months has an all-star cast that includes Viveik Kalra, Brianne Tju, Ellen Burstyn, Judy Greer, Javier Munoz, Louis Gossett Jr., and Amy Landecker.

OFM spoke exclusively with Frieder to talk more about the film, why he wanted to tell this story, and making his directorial debut.

How does it feel to make your directorial debut with Three Months?
It’s surreal. It’s the dream of a lifetime, and I am so grateful. This has been a very long journey, 10 years in the making since I first wrote the script, and I finally got to start directing it on March 3, 2020. We shot for two weeks, then we were shut down by a global pandemic for six or seven months, never knowing if we would ever finish. So, to have finished and to be able to share it with the world, I feel so grateful and lucky. I am so excited for people to see it.

Three Months is a coming-of-age drama that tells the story of Caleb, who finds out that he has been exposed to HIV and has to wait three months for the test results. The story was inspired by a true event that happened in your life?
It’s loosely inspired by both my upbringing and experiences that I’ve had navigating the world as a young, queer man. What I wanted to do with this film is sort of show what the queer experience is like and what it’s like to live with HIV or be exposed to HIV now. It’s not a death sentence anymore in our modern world thanks to health care access, and I also wanted to create the kind of movie that young Jared, who was a teenager and really wanted to see queer characters represented on screen. I wanted to write a movie for him and for queer kids today that sort of helps them feel less alone and realize that the things that make them different also make them special and invaluable. So, I was pulling from all those themes from my life, and that’s sort of how I arrived at the film.

As you mentioned, you wrote the story 10 years ago, but it has died a thousand deaths throughout its journey. What finally gave it the green light?
I am so grateful to MTV Studios and Pam Post for finally being the ones to move this forward. It was at so many different streamers and producers, and MTV Studios was finally the one that was like, let’s get this made. Let’s tell this very important story that honestly reflects MTV’s brand for years of being socially conscious.

We include MTV’s The Real World: San Francisco and Pedro Zamora in this film, and he was the first openly HIV positive person to be on television in the early 90s. He inspired a generation and changed the world. It was important for me to honor him and pay tribute to his legacy and what he fought for so younger queer people, like myself, so our lives can be enriched and better. MTV supported that, and again, I’m very grateful that it happened.

Ultimately, what do you hope audiences take away from the film?
For me, this is a movie about waiting, which is something we can all relate to now with COVID. We’re all waiting for the world to change and for this pandemic to be over, and I want people to realize that life happens while you’re waiting. We still have to fight for joy and happiness, even in those trying times.

Also, like I said earlier, I want people to realize that HIV is no longer a death sentence in our modern world with access to health care. People living with HIV can live long, happy, healthy, prosperous lives, and we need to tackle the homophobia, shame, and stigma that is culturally surrounding HIV. It’s hurting queer people, and we need to do better.

Because the film’s core is about dismantling the shame around HIV and showing that it’s no longer a death sentence, do you believe there is a great urgency these days to tell LGBTQ stories centered around HIV?
I think there’s always an urgency to tell all LGBTQ stories because there’s nearly not enough of them. Whether they’re dealing with HIV, coming of age, coming out, we just need more, and we need more Black, indigenous, POC, queer stories, as well as trans and nonbinary stories. They are incredible stories, and these are characters that the world needs to meet. They will enrich all our lives to be able to see the emotional truths of those experiences and empathize with the people in our world who should be treated with love, dignity, and respect. They should be celebrated.

When I read your director’s statement, I felt so bad that you waited this long to finally start filming, only to be shut down two weeks later by COVID-19. Besides the pandemic, were there any other major challenges that had to be overcome?
How much time do we have? (Laughs). Making a movie feels like being pushed off a cliff into a pit of snakes. There is danger, challenges, and bumps at every turn, and luckily, I had incredible support with MTV Studios, Paramount+, and our amazing producers, Dan Dubiecki and Lara Alameddine of The Allegiance Theatre, who were my safety net and my creative collaborators and partners. No matter what the challenge was, they helped me tackle it head-on and make the movie better.

We must surround our queer filmmakers with these resources because it’s the only way to get through a movie making experience. So, I hope this movie can open the door for more queer movies to be made with big studios like MTV and big platforms like Paramount. These stories need to be told, be protected, and be made.

Three Months has an all-star cast including Troye Sivan, Viveik Kalra, Brianne Tju, and Ellen Burstyn. What made Troye the right choice to play Caleb?
I am the biggest Troye Sivan fan on the planet, and I have been for a very long time. I always knew he was the one to play Caleb. I wrote Caleb as the kid I wish I could have been in high school, whereas the love interest, Estha, is the kid I actually was in high school. Caleb is courageous, funny, and heartfelt, and on the inside, he’s dealing with abandonment and shame.

I had met Troye socially and I had seen his performances in Boy Erased, and I just knew he was this character. He carries this movie on his back. He’s in every scene, he has to access every part of the emotional spectrum to play this role, and he does it so effortlessly and beautifully. I think he’s going to blow people away, and I can’t wait for people to see him in this role.

Have you always had a passion and desire to work in the entertainment industry?
No. I grew up in Florida, which is where this movie takes place, and to me, it was like the same aliens who came down and built the pyramids made film and TV. It didn’t feel like something that I could even conceive to dream. It felt so out of reach, but I had always been a writer and loved literature, especially Southern Gothic literature, which is both grotesque and funny. Once I got into college and realized that film and television writing was something that I, a normal person from Florida, could do, that was when I was like, oh, I’ve always loved movies and television. Now that I see that there may be a path for myself to be a creator in those mediums, I ran to L.A., and the rest is history.

What are some long-term goals you would like to achieve with your career?
I want to keep telling stories that make people feel less alone and that challenge the status quo. Talk about themes and subjects not only as a queer person, but also a person walking around the world in 2022. Things that we need to talk about more and things that we need to fight for to make our future better, but tell them in ways that are funny, entertaining, and joyous. They shouldn’t be a hard pill to swallow. If I get to keep telling stories that do that, like Three Months, I will be the luckiest guy in the world.

Before we wrap up, are there any other upcoming projects or anything else you would like to mention or plug?
There are some secret things that I’m not allowed to talk about yet, but as soon as I do, I can’t wait to share them with everybody!

Stay up-to-date and connect with Frieder by following him on Twitter and Instagram @jaredfrieder. Three Months premieres February 23 on Paramount+.

Photos Courtesy of Lara Alameddine and MTV Entertainment Studios