EXCLUSIVE: Veteran US producer David Permut, whose Being Heumann premiered as TIFF’s opening gala on Thursday night (September 10), is lining up a drama about the UK activist Peter Tatchell and has separately confirmed he is moving ahead with a Broadway version of The Invite.
Still Alice co-writer/co-director Wash Westmoreland and Christopher Back have written the story, which focuses on the openly gay Tatchell’s participation as a Labour Party candidate in the notorious 1983 Bermondsey by-election in London, when he ran against the Margaret Thatcher government’s proposed redevelopment of the city’s Docklands.
Casting is underway on the feature, which focuses on how Tatchell emerged as a figurehead of the nascent LGBTQ+ movement and endured violent homophobic attacks, while taking strength from his secret relationship with Justin Fashanu, the UK’s first million-pound Black football player.
“Peter’s kind of the Harvey Milk of London and is an amazing individual with an incredible story,” said Permut. He is producing through Permut Presentations with Paul Nelson and Jeremy Berney of Mosaic Media Group, and Tom Lewis. The producers acquired Tatchell’s life rights after Lewis brought the project to Permut.
‘Being Heumann’, ‘The Invite’
Permut wanted to tell the story of disability activist Judy Heumann, who is the subject of Being Heumann, after he saw the 2020 Sundance documentary Crip Camp in which she is featured. Heumann’s lawyer told Permut that Jean-Marc Vallée was also down the road on developing a project. “I’m a producer,” Permut said. ”When I hear “down the road” that means there’s no closed deal.”
John Beach and Kevin Cleary, who would eventually produce the film with Permut, writer/director Siân Heder, and Kevin Walsh, arranged a call. “I talked to Judy for about two hours and the next day her representatives called and said, ‘Congratulations, you’re the producer on this movie’.” She was a big fan of Hacksaw Ridge [Permut’s 2016 war film directed by Mel Gibson] and bestowed the rights on me.”
Being Heumann shot in Toronto in spring 2025, although sadly Heumann died in 2023 before she could see it. Apple will release the film in select US cinemas on November 6 and on Apple TV on November 13.
Two days prior to the start of principal photography in Canada, Permut had wrapped production in Los Angeles on Olivia Wilde’s The Invite, which A24 released in the US and has earned more than $55m worldwide. He pulled the adaptation together by acquiring English-language rights and the play rights from Cesc Gay after he saw the Spaniard’s The People Upstairs on the TIFF viewing platform during the festival’s 2020 pandemic edition.
“Next year we move on to Broadway and we’re in the midst of putting the play together,” Permut said. “That was always the plan: I wanted to get the film out and then launch the play on Broadway to bring it back full circle to the stage.”
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