Production has started for Michael, the upcoming film based on the life of “ex-gay” activist Michael Glatze.

Glatze is the controversial publisher and former gay rights advocate who gained notoriety for publicly renouncing being gay.

Glatze and former boyfriend Benjie Nycum in 2004 launched Young Gay America magazine (YGA Mag), a bimonthly magazine for LGBT youth which folded three years later. The pair, who met while working at XY magazine, also co-authored the book XY Survival Guide.

The film is being produced by Gus Van Sant. It stars James Franco in the lead role and out actor Zachary Quinto (Star Trek Into Darkness, American Horror Story) as Nycum.

On Sunday, Franco posted on Instagram two images from the set.

“My new lover, SPOCK!” he captioned a photo of himself in a car with Quinto.

In a second photo of himself, he wrote: “New Film: Michael Gay Activist Mode.”

In 2005, Glatze was featured in Time magazine as a gay rights activist. Two years later, he publicly announced he no longer identified as gay and denounced homosexuality in two WND.com articles. In one article, he pledged to fight against gay rights.