Written and Directed by Rick Hammerly, Signage follows two forty-ish gay friends who go out for a night at the clubs. Our hero connects with a young gay deaf man and they both hit it off. But the many labels and groups within groups of the gay community might be a hurdle in their getting together.
Starring: Rick Hammerly, Jason Wittig, Jeffery Johnson.
Signage won Best Short at the Washington DC Independent Film Fest.
*Portions of film is told in sign language, with subtitles.
The dreamy Chris Hemsworth appeared on The Graham Norton Show sans hammer last night with Lily Tomlin, Ron Howard and Scottish stand-up comic Kevin Bridges (who Tomlin had a devil of a time understanding).
Chris told a story about going to prison to do some research for the film Blackhat, in which he plays a furloughed convict. He figured nobody would recognize him but it turned out that they’re just as hot for Thor as we are.
Nothing like a Thor prison fantasy to start the day off right.
Watch below:
The Coen Brothers’ latest film, Hail Caesar, has arrived reuniting once again many stars from their previous films.
In the film, Josh Brolin (whos still hot) plays the “fixer” for a major Hollywood studio whose job it is to keep all of the movie stars in line. George Clooney, who plays an actor cast as Caesar in the studio’s big budget epic film, is kidnapped by a group called The Future, and the studio must save Clooney to save its big budget production.
Besides Clooney, the film stars Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum, Josh Brolin, Dolph Lundgren, Jonah Hill, Tilda Swinton, Mel England, and Frances McDormand.
And Alden Ehrenreich! Yay! (Whoever that is.)
The feature film adaptation of Andrew Holleran’s classic 1978 gay novel Dancer from the Dance about a lawyer who gives up his day job and immerses himself in the ’70s social scene of gay men in New York City and Fire Island has gotten a Director and will soon begin production almost 40 years after its literary debut.
Alan Poul’s TV directing credits include Six Feet Under, The Newsroom, Rome, Swingtown, and the feature The Back-up Plan. RT Features’ productions include Frances Ha, Love is Strange, Mistress America, and The Witch. Screenplay is by Joshua Harmon, John Krokidas, and Austin Bunn. Poul, Rodrigo Teixeira, and Mauricio Zacharias will produce. Production is scheduled for summer 2016 and WME is packaging.
The novel is known for its unflinching vivid imagery, lush language, and captivating depiction of gay men searching for love and acceptance in a harsh, dreamlike urban landscape.
Poul also co-produced the ’90s Tales of the City series which aired on PBS and Showtime.
TRIVIA: The title of the novel comes from the last line of William Butler Yeats‘s poem “Among School Children”, which ends, “O chestnut-tree, great-rooted blossomer,/ Are you the leaf, the blossom or the bole?/ O body swayed to music, O brightening glance,/ How can we know the dancer from the dance?”
Reference: Post-Stonewall gay literature
In an interview with the U.K. magazine The Spectatori iconic gay film director and screenwriter John Waters who rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films like Pink Flamingos, Desperate Living, and Female Trouble talked about the media’s treatment of Caitlyn Jenner and how he doesn’t understand why we can’t make fun of her:
‘The Bruce Jenner/Caitlyn thing is kind of old hat to me. I had a transgender woman in Pink Flamingos. She had breasts and a penis. She got the operation that week. That was radical to me then. Caitlyn’s a Republican, she’s on a reality show, and she’s a Kardashian. We can’t make fun of him or her?’
Testify John!
*If you happen to be. in the UK , John Waters’s exhibition ‘Beverly Hills John’ is at Sprüth Magers London until 15 August. A retrospective of his films will be showing at the BFI in September.
A licensing agreement between Sony Pictures and Marvel Comics has come to light since the the movie giant was hacked last year that states explicitly that the character of Peter Parker aka. Spiderman must be heterosexual and white.
The agreement brought to light by Gawker notes that the contract went into effect in September 2011 shortly after black-latino character Miles Morales donned the famous spider costume in a storyline in the comics.
These mandatory and forbidden traits are spelled out individually in a screenshot of the agreement below.
A friend just showed me this trailer last night for the film “Laurence Anyways” by Xavier Dolan. It’s a French film that follows the life of a man who lives in Quebec and who wants to live the rest of his life as a woman. In the film he struggles to maintain a relationship with his female soulmate, his family and maintain his career. He is a son, brother, lover and teacher exploring his true identity.
The trailer is visually stunning and features a song from the amazing Moderat titled “A New Error”.
The film played at Cannes this year and is set to be released July 18th in France and Canada. I can’t find any US release dates. Can’t wait to see it!
Harvey Weinstein, best known as co-founder of Miramax Films and now co-chairmen of The Weinstein Company, is threatening to quit the MPAA after The MPAA gave his new film “BULLY” an “‘R” rating that would stop the movie could reaching the teen audience to which he was hoping the film would reach and educate about the dangers and consequences of teen bullying.
EW reports that Weinstein appealed to the MPAA Rating Board along with one of the bullied children in the film, Alex Libby asking that the film be re-rated as “PG-13”.
The board did not change the rating of the movie.
TWC co-chairman Harvey Weinstein and one of the bullied children in the film, Alex Libby delivered statements to the MPAA’s Classification and Rating Appeals Board today, arguing that an R rating would prevent “BULLY” from reaching the adolescent audience that would most benefit from the movie. (The studio was planning on screening the documentary at various middle and high schools.) However, for an MPAA rating to be overturned, a two-thirds vote is required — and Bully was one vote short.
Extremely disappointed Weinstein released a statement hinting that the MPAA has gone to far and the the The Weinstein company is considering leaving the organization.
Check out the Trailer for “BULLY” below:
Based on Dr. Seuss’s final book before his death, this is a story about life’s ups and downs, told by the people of Burning Man 2011. (And the blond guy at the beginning is certainly SuessiWOOFical!)
From writer and filmmaker Andrew Haigh comes ‘Weekend’. Audience Award winner at South By Southwest, this is a interesting look into gay life, casual sex, and what may come. From the website:
A one-night stand that becomes something more – an unconventional love story between two young men trying to make sense of their lives.
On a Friday night after hanging out with his straight mates, Russell heads out to a nightclub, alone and on the pull. Just before closing time he picks up Glen. And so begins a weekend – in bars and in bedrooms, getting drunk and taking drugs, telling stories and having sex – that will resonate throughout their lives.