Queerly Ever After #18: HAPPY ENDINGS SLEEPOVER (2019) Part 2

Queerly Ever After is a bi-monthly column where I take a look at LGBT+ films that gave their characters a romantic happily-ever-after. There will be spoilers.

This is part 2 of my review and investigation into Happy Endings Sleepover. If you haven’t yet read part 1, do so here and then come back to part 2.

Let’s pick up right where we left off. After watching the Danish-American Happy Endings Sleepover I decided to do some digging into the film. Namely the claim that it is actually based on the real life of the film’s writer Cade Jay Hathaway. After tracking Hathaway, and the film’s lead actors Jeppe Fogsgaard and Jonas Kyed, down online, I reached out to them. Amazingly, they all agreed to talk to me almost immediately.

My Own Investigation

First I spoke with Hathaway. According to him, he grew up in Washington state in a religiously oppressive household. He got out the moment he could and it was aboard a merchant marine ship that he was recruited for the CIA. After making it through the recruitment process he was given the option of being stationed in one of several countries. He chose Denmark. At first he worked as a field transport operative before being promoted to supervisor. As a transport operative, it was his job to pick up an asset from one location and transport it/them to another. Basically, a glorified Uber driver.

So, there he was, barely even 20, working for the CIA and living in Denmark though he didn’t speak a lick of Danish. At least, that’s how he tells it. It is in his early days there that he met and fell in love with his now husband, Lasse. Just like Johnny and Sander in the movie, Hathaway and Lasse did not admit their feelings for each other immediately, both believing the other to be straight. But, being so taken with Lasse, Hathaway says he foolishly took Lasse with him on an assignment that did not go as planned.

After his first debacle of an assignment, he somehow managed to keep his job. He was eventually promoted to field transport specialist, so instead of being the driver, he got to coordinate the pick-ups/drop-offs. He continued in his position until shortly after the 2016 Presidential election. He now says he does contract work for another secretive government agency and still lives in Denmark with Lasse.

As for my other questions about this film, according to Hathaway, the reason for the change of cast was just your run-of-the-mill scheduling problems. As it would turn out, the film started shooting with the original cast intact, but when scheduling conflicts caused the two leads to leave (and yes, the original actor playing Johnny was American), Fogsgaard and Kyed were brought in to replace them.

After speaking with Hathaway I spoke with Fogsgaard and Kyed. They both confirmed that they were brought on to the film after shooting had already started, but quickly became fast friends. They told me that they had a great time filming and would happily continue to play these characters as long as they both stayed on-board. I asked them if they believed Hathaway’s life story and while they both agreed Hathaway has had quite an interesting life, that they are inclined to believe is true, neither Fogsgaard nor Kyed has actually met him in person yet.

Then, at Hathaway‘s urging, I also reached out to the movie’s director, Davey Porter.

Hello Mr. Porter,

I am a film journalist based in NYC. I write a column called Queerly Ever After for filminquiry.com, the column takes a loot at LGBT movies with romantic happy endings. I came across Happy Endings Sleepover on Amazon Prime and plan to be covering it as my first column entry of the new year. I have so far spoken to Cade Hathaway, as well as Jeppe Fogsgaard and Jonas Kyed about this film, but Cade passed along your contact info to me. If you would be up to it. I would like to talk with you about this film.

Thanks you,

Amanda Jane Stern

As seems to have been the pattern with this movie, Porter responded to me immediately and we hopped on a phone call. He confirmed much of what I’d already been told about the film, but he added a new interesting detail. According to him, before shooting began, the film’s legal department reached out to the CIA to confirm Hathaway’s former employment, and that it did check out.

The Plot Thickens

That’s all well and good, but that wasn’t enough for me. So I found the address for the CIA’s office of employment verification and I sent them a letter:

Dear Office of CIA Employment Verification,

I am a film journalist with the website Film Inquiry, and I am writing as I wanted to fact check before publishing an article on a screenwriter named Cade Jay Hathaway.  Mr. Hathaway has stated that he worked for the CIA while stationed in Denmark from around March 2012 until around November 12, 2016. He claims he was first a transportation specialist and then a Field Transport Supervisor.

Mr. Hathaway has written a film (which is now streaming on Amazon Prime) partially based on his time with the CIA.

In an effort to confirm his story, before my article goes to print, can you confirm whether Mr. Hathaway was ever an employee of the CIA.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter, I hope to hear back from you soon.

Sincerely,

Amanda Jane Stern

As of writing this article, I still have yet to receive a response from the CIA. I likely never will, and this will continue to be a mystery. For what it’s worth. I do believe that Hathaway was for a time employed by the CIA. How much of what he said happened, actually did, is a different matter. After all, the best lies are the ones that contain at least a bit of truth. As for what’s next, Hathaway and the team are currently in pre-production on a sequel, perhaps I might just have to take a trip to Denmark.

Happy Endings Sleepover started streaming on Amazon Prime on October 21, 2019. For all other release dates, see here.