Netflix’s sleeper hit poignantly, amusingly follows a young gay man in the ’90s who joins up with a Marine Corps still mired in homophobia
If you want to make a TV cast unite fast, have their heads shaved on camera. “The minute you’re with a group of people that you’re working with, and you all get your heads shaved on the same day, you bond those people for life,” quips Jennifer Cecil, co-showrunner of Boots, the coming-of-age military dramedy based on Greg Cope White’s memoir The Pink Marine. “I’ve never been on a show where the cast was this tightly bonded.”
An actor since the age of 11, Miles Heizer, best known for his six seasons as Lauren Graham’s son on Parenthood and four seasons as Alex Standall on 13 Reasons Why, concurs that playing U.S. Marine recruit Cameron Cope was a unique exercise in team building. “There were always 50 people in every scene, and everyone worked every single day. That’s very uncommon for a TV schedule,” he says. Add to that the gruelling boot camp exercises. “On many days there was no acting. You just sort of spit the words out. That really bonds you.”
A military story where the recruits, on and off the screen, form a brotherly bond is nothing new, per se. But Boots takes an unfortunately once-again-timely approach to the Full Metal Jacket genre, with a gay character pledging his loyalty to the Marine Corps in the early 1990s, prior to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” taking effect. Cameron may be out in his civilian life, but in the military his sexual orientation is a crime and a secret only known to his childhood friend and fellow pledge Ray (Liam Oh). “What I love about Cameron’s arc is that it isn’t about him discovering his sexuality. He is comfortable with who he is and he’s fortunate enough to have this best friend who loves him and accepts him for who he is,” says Heizer. “But his family is not doing the best job of uplifting him and supporting him, so when Ray is leaving [for the Marines], he is like, ‘I’d rather be with Ray.’”
Indeed, this is no rom-com, and there is no sexual tension brewing between best friends. Instead, boot camp becomes a journey of self-discovery and unlikely empowerment for Cameron. “A lot of queer people, especially when it comes to other boys, have this fear of how we’re going to be perceived, and we hang back and try not to make too much noise,” says Heizer. “In this place, where Cameron is forced to fail and stick it out, and connect with all these people, he ends up learning about himself. Of course, the conundrum is that he’s also hiding this part of himself. What is the cost of growth for him?”
Getting the tone right, between comedic, heartfelt and authentic, was the real challenge for series creator and co-showrunner Andy Parker. “Making it accessible while also not toning it down, so that you’re not just ingesting a lot of screaming but are able to really participate in the story and feel the emotion along with these characters, that was one of the hardest parts of the show,” says Parker. “But in talking with people who’ve been through this experience, I came to understand that it’s not just miserable all the time. There are also moments of camaraderie, of connection, of humour. The tone of the show comes out of people’s authentic experience.”
When it comes to portraying Cameron, a character loosely based on author Cope White, who himself joined the Marines in 1979, Cecil believes only one person was right for the job. “Miles is the Trojan horse for this series,” she says. “His acting is so good that he just disarms you and brings you into the story. For people who maybe think, ‘I don’t want to watch a military story,’ or ‘I don’t have anything to do with a gay story,’ you can’t help but root for this character, because Miles is extraordinary in the role.”
Boots was executive-produced by late television visionary Norman Lear, who optioned the book from his friend Cope White. While Lear passed away in 2023, his impact on the project is unmistakable. “What Norman gave us was this legacy to live up to,” says Parker. “The canon of his work was about expanding the story of who gets to be counted as an American, and I think his shows were so groundbreaking because they pushed that definition further. In one of my first conversations with him, I said, ‘This story is about who gets to be counted as an American.’”
What Parker never intended was for Boots to be a political show. “I thought that this was going to be an artifact of history, but there is something about the moment that we’re in that is unexpected,” he says. “It’s a rough time for the LGBTQ community overall, and certainly in the military, but what I’m hoping people will come to understand is that anybody who chooses to give up their personal freedoms, to protect people that they will never know, those people should be supported and thanked every single day. What I love about this show is that these people are coming to boot camp for different reasons — some are running away, some are running towards something, but everybody has their own personal story. It’s wonderful to be able to tell that in an ensemble fashion.”
Boots, streaming on Netflix