‘A Kid Like Jake’ Star Priyanka Chopra Says Gender Identity Story ‘Needs to be Told’ (Video)

“The world is in a place where we feel comfortable where we put everything in a box,” “A Kid Like Jake” star Priyanka Chopra told TheWrap at the Sundance Film Festival. “Everything can’t be put into a box, especially when it comes to something as relevant and as topical and as unspoken as a gender issue.”

Chopra co-stars in the film — directed by Silas Howard and adapted by Daniel Pearle from his own 2013 play — about the family and community surrounding a young boy who prefers dressing up like princesses to playing with G.I. Joe dolls.

“The sensitivity with which this film was written, the incredible cast that has come together to tell a story which needs to be told,” Chopra said. “This debate and this conversation is so important and people are so afraid of it. And there’s nothing to be afraid of, it’s a child.”

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But Howard’s film makes the intentional choice not to preach or to proselytize, but to simply present the way our culture responds deals with and talks about gender as it really is, without a slant or commentary. The goal, Chopra said, is to encourage viewers to ask questions.

“It has no perspective, it just has everyone else’s perspectives,” she said. “It’s not telling you think is how you should think, it’s making you think.”

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