Lights, Camera, Akhavan

Meet the Sundance-winning director bringing LGBT stories into the spotlight.

- Victoria Fell

HAVING A MOMENT

Desiree Akhavan

Congratulations on The Miseducation Of Cameron Post. What made you want to adapt the original novel [about Cameron, a teen sent to a gay conversion therapy camp in the 90s]?

‘I read the book and loved it, and gave it to my girlfriend at the time, who said, “You have to adapt this into a film.” It felt like a metaphor for teenagehood: no matter what you were [as a teenager], it felt diseased. When Donald Trump and Mike Pence won the US election during production, it hit me that unfortunately, I was making a much more relevant film than I thought.’

Chloë Grace Moretz is amazing as Cameron. Did you have her in mind from the start?

‘Not at all. I didn’t think she’d be interested, but her team reached out. I got really excited because she was so against type. Her onscreen persona isn’t what we have in the film. She’s often an ingénue, so I thought it would be great to see her in a different way.'

Were you open about your sexuality in your teens?