Body of Work: Brock Yurich Puts NewFest38 to the ‘Test’

Ten+ years in the making, the film about a bodybuilder struggling to achieve glory and to figure out his sexuality received a rapturous reception from an NYC audience

October 22, 2026

You miss all the shots you don’t take. (Image via Dark Star)

Imagine working on a personal film project for 10+ years and then finally being able to stand before an opening-night audience at NewFest38 and introduce it.

No wonder that writer and star Brock Yurich got choked up speaking before the premiere of Test, a feature directed by Sam McConnell about a bodybuilder’s quest to win a major title while wrestling with his sexual orientation.

Trophy strife (Image via Dark Star)

Yurich goes full-frontal more than once in a movie in which he must also be emotionally naked. It pulls no punches in revealing the lengths to which many serious, competitive bodybuilders will go in order to win, including cam work and never-ending injections of supplements, testosterone — and even insulin.

Blanchard, who you must know gave the best performance as Judy Garland ever in Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows (2001) (Image by Matthew Rettenmund)

Yurich’s all-stars, Morrison & Blanchard (Image by Matthew Rettenmund)

His character Eddie also has to deal with his loving hot mess of a mom (Tammy Blanchard), who is devoutly religious and whose own personal failings threaten to cause her son to come up short in his quest for unqualified success.

My guy Matt (Images by Matthew Rettenmund)

There’s no dad on the scene, but that doesn’t mean there is no daddy — Eddie’s silver-fox coach Mike (Mike Edward) fills the bill, and becomes the temptation his pastor (Matthew Morrison) warns him all about. “God sees you everywhere,” Pastor Gregg warns the morning after Eddie and Mike level up from coach-athlete to top-bottom.

(Image via Dark Star)

Test took a long time, much like a bodybuilder’s prep period before a competition, but everyone seemed satisfied with the results — not least of all castmate Matthew Morrison, who worked on it just one day and raved after having seen the film for the first time.

It was a fun reunion with Matt for me — I used to write about him and know him when he was in a boy band and I was editing a teen mag 25 years ago!) (Images by Matthew Rettenmund)

McConnell & Morrison (Image by Matthew Rettenmund)

Blanchard was as vulnerable at the post-screening Q&A as she is in the movie, revealing that the film had allowed her an opportunity to heal after having self-medicated to the point that she knew she had hurt her young daughter. It was a riveting moment of self-reflection, as was her insistence that Jesus is love, not judgment, a message Eddie could have used from his own well-meaning mama.

Yurich & Morrison (Image by Matthew Rettenmund)

Broadway’s Sydney James Harcourt (Image by Matthew Rettenmund)

Jock star Gus Kenworthy (Image by Matthew Rettenmund)

Laid Bare’s Marval Rex

Titanique creator Constantine Rousouli

Often, when I’m reporting on film fest fare, all I can do is tell you to hope for the best when it comes to seeing the film in question. In the case of Test, it has been snapped up for distribution in 2027 by Dark Star — so you won’t have long to wait.

Check out the full Q&A: