Photographer Drew Escrivá at Jones Management
Fashion Nicholas MacKinnon
Groomer Alex Keating at Forward Artists using Twelve Beauty and Oribe Hair Care
Writer and Producer Tessa Swantek
Photographer Assistant Bridget Gao
Fashion Assistants Josy Graye and Lalo Ambris
BTS Photographer and Videographer Marissa Alper
Location WTF Dumbo Studio
“Playing Ben just cracked open my heart for anyone who has made the brave decision to be open about who they are and direct the narrative about what they feel inside, even if it doesn't align with how other people see them. That's one of the scariest, greatest things anyone can do.”
“Becoming” is a car whose engine is always humming. It’s the drive between Corey Fogelmanis’ childhood home and rehearsals as his mom holds much more than the wheel steady before his role becomes anything other than her son. It’s the ride home after shooting I Wish You All the Best as his mind cruises over imagined versions of “better” takes, self-critique a passenger left in the rearview. It’s the familiar pulse he hears in the filled tank and brimming silence, as his forehead presses against Miles Gutierrez-Riley’s while shooting a scene. It’s the travel towards chocolate chip pancakes at two in the morning during the last week of shooting, as the moon follows so closely, they could almost eat it too.
It’s nothing short of brave to enter the world without leaving a part of yourself behind, like a jacket over the backseat. Tommy Dorfman’s debut film, based on Mason Deaver’s novel, is about showing up in the world as you are. Ben de Backer, embodied by Corey, is a teenager whose body, mind, and home don’t feel like home, especially when they are kicked out of their parents’ house after coming out as nonbinary. With plenty of messy U-turns and speed bumps along the way, they pave a different path home. Corey, drawn to characters who don’t yet know their place in the world, is also looking to carve out his own space, fingernails in the dirt.
As we chat in a SoHo café, he tells me about his parallel journey to Ben’s, as he, too, is learning to accept himself for where he is at any moment. He celebrates the destination, having led a full character arc, and the pit stops in learning to let himself be seen. He also appreciates having to reroute since being on his friend’s “shit list,” and after digging up insecurities while leaving the dressing room on set in a skirt. And as we shoot this story in the middle of a New York Nor’easter, we accept the nonbinary nature of life, too, in all of its messy beauty.
I Wish You All The Best is available now for purchase and rental.
Take in the full 22-page cover story beyond this teaser. Our brand new Autumn Winter 2025 issue, "To Be Human" is available to buy online.
