Naked Boys Filming

What do you get when you combine the lurid thrill of gratuitous onstage nudity with upbeat musical theater song and dance? The answer is Naked Boys Singing, the hit Off-Broadway show that has been wowin' 'em (in more ways then one) since 1999.

And if the bumper crop of movie musicals this year hasn't been enough, the Boys will be hitting the big screen themselves this fall as well (and no, it won't be in 3-D). Naked Boys Singing: The Motion Picture (it isn't really called all that, but don't you wish it was?) will be the opening night feature at Out Takes Dallas, Texas' own gay and lesbian film festival, and it will be appearing at several other festivals as well prior to its limited theatrical release in October.

For a tease of the new movie, visit its official website, filled with cast pictures (sorry, no full frontal -- you'll have to see the movie for that!), video sneak peeks and a pictorial history of the global phenomenon that is Naked Boys Singing.

You can also get a gander at the movie's trailer (for once, that term is tres apropos) over at YouTube, where you can also see Under the Pink Carpet's backstage look at the New York production.

Links via NakedBoysSinging.com, Imdb.com, OutTakesDallas.org, NakedBoysSingingMovie.com, YouTube.com and UnderThePinkCarpet.tv.

Toronto: 'Eastern' Wins Northern Prize

Eastern Promises, David Cronenberg's crime thriller starring Viggo Mortensen, won the top prize at the just completed Toronto International Film Festival. As conventional wisdom states, that means this unconventional film is now officially a "frontrunner" in this year's awards race. Nevertheless, we'll have to wait and see if its grim subject matter doesn't turn off older Academy members like the duo's last outing, A History of Violence, although that didn't hurt The Departed last year.

Shaping up to be this year's Little Miss Sunshine is Jason Reitman's quirky look at teenage pregnancy Juno, with no less then Roger Ebert predicting an Oscar nod for its 20-year old leading lady, Ellen Page. See for yourself with the official trailer for the comedy, which boasts a fine supporting cast that includes such favorites as Allison Janney, J.K. Simmons and Jennifer Garner, herself receiving some early Oscar buzz.

Cate Blanchett's two diverse biopics continued to receive mixed responses, even if everyone was enthralled by her own performances as the Virgin Queen and the Folkie King in, respectively, Shekhar Kapur's Elizabeth: The Golden Age and Todd Haynes' I'm Not There.

However, the most divisive film of the festival, and likely the year, was Alan Ball's Nothing is Private. The bleak drama features a controversial sex scene between Aaron Eckhart's character and a 13-year-old Arab-American girl (played by 19-year-old Summer Bishil) that the ultra-conservative Fox News likens to "kiddie porn". Here's what the trades had to say about it.

Other notables at the fest:

• Breakfast With Scot: In this, the so-called "gay hockey movie", Tom Cavanaugh and Ben Shenkman star as a couple who look after their flamboyant nephew (think Ugly Betty's Justin, only in Canada).
• A Jihad for Love: This documentary, filmed in secret over a six-year period, examines the often dangerous lives of gay Muslims.
• Then She Found Me: Helen Hunt stars in her directorial debut, where she plays a baby-wanting woman who meets her long absent birth mother, played by ... Bette Midler?!
• Trumbo: Blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo is the subject of this doc, which, considering its subject, is sure to nab an Oscar nom.
• And continuing their road to glory: Atonement, In the Valley of Elah, Into the Wild, Michael Clayton and No Country for Old Men, another wacky crime caper (à la Fargo) from the Coen Brothers, starring Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem and Woody Harrelson.
• Or not: Rendition and Cassandra's Dream.

Even with some promising standouts, the general consensus is that ... there is no consensus. Which means it should be an exciting awards season this year.

UPDATE: Here's the official trailer for Atonement. Anyone else reminded just a tad of The Children's Hour?

Links via GoldDerby.LATimes.com, TIFF07.ca, AwardsDaily.com, RogerEbert.SunTimes.com, YouTube.com, EW.com, EdgeBoston.com, Blogs.MercuryNews.com and MoviesBlog.MTV.com.

Venice Loves Lee's 'Lust'

Despite harsh reviews from the trades, Ang Lee won his second Venice Film Festival Golden Lion award for Lust, Caution, just two years after his Brokeback Mountain did. Brian De Palm's controversial Redacted took the Silver Lion, while Todd Haynes received a special jury prize for his unconventional Bob Dylan bio, I'm Not There.

Cate Blanchett, one of the many actors who play Dylan in that film, won the fest's Best Actress, and her Babel husband Brad Pitt nabbed Best Actor for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

Ed Radtke's coming-of-age drama The Speed of Life won the festival's first Queer Lion award, created to honor films that include "accurate portrayals of gay characters". Kenneth Branagh's Sleuth came in second with an "honorable mention".

Other movies that have been crossing the award season radar that took home awards include In the Valley of Elah, The Darjeeling Limited, Atonement and Jonathan Demme's documentary on Jimmy Carter, Man from Plains.

What these early awards mean in the long run remains to be seen, although Tom O'Neil over at Gold Derby sure gives it a try.

Links via LaBiennale.org, Imdb.com, HollywoodReporter.com and GoldDerby.LATimes.com.

Best of the Fests: Telluride and Venice Reax

With the Telluride and Venice film festivals both in full swing over the weekend, fest watchers and award pundits the world over have been abuzz about what's good and what's not. It's a veritable information overload out there, so I'll try to sum it up here, separating the hits from the hype.

One film has emerged as a clear victor and early Best Picture contender: Atonement, directed by Pride & Prejudice's Joe Wright and starring his Pride star Keira Knightley (pictured), The Last King of Scotland's James McAvoy and Oscar perennial Vanessa Redgrave. The epic romantic drama has English Patient written all over it, with some critics decreeing it an "instant classic", a term that may come back to haunt the pic if it peaks too early in the game.

I'm Not There, Todd Haynes' unconventional biopic of Bob Dylan, seems to play best to fans of the folkie. Meanwhile, Jason Reitman's follow-up to Thank You for Smoking, the comedic look at teenaged pregnancy Juno, benefited from being one of the few light-hearted flicks amidst all the gloom and doom dramas and Klaus Barbie docs.

More mixed reactions were delivered to such eagerly-awaited entrants as Sean Penn's true-life adventure tale Into the Wild, Noah Baumbach's "put the fun-in-dysfunctional" dramedy Margot at the Wedding, Ocean's buddies George Clooney as Michael Clayton and Brad Pitt as Jesse James, the Salvadorian The Hunting Party (starring Richard Gere and Terrence Howard) and Paul Haggis' In the Valley of Elah (or, as 'Rollerboy' over at AwardsDaily.com calls it, In the Valley of Eh).

The biggest divide in critical opinion comes from an unlikely source: Brian De Palma. Yes, the director of the so-bad-it's-good Dressed to Kill and the just-plain-bad Black Dahlia has delivered the controversial "fictional documentary" Redacted, centering on what seems to be every real documentarian's favorite subject of late, the Iraq war. As could be expected with such a hot-button subject, the film has already stirred-up impassioned reactions from both sides of the political spectrum, yet such controversies rarely lead a film to the Oscar podium (except in the actual documentary category).

Bringing up the rear are a few high-profile projects that apparently will be sitting out this year's trophy races: Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited has more to worry about then a troubled star (with all due respect and best wishes to Owen Wilson); Woody Allen's Cassandra's Dream was roasted despite the presence of hunkalicious duo Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell; there was no love lost for Ang Lee's Lust, Caution; and it looks like Kenneth Branagh should have left well-enough alone with his Sleuth remake.

That pretty much wraps things up for these two fests, but there's more to come: the Toronto International Film Festival begins this weekend.

Links via TellurideFilmFestival.com, LaBiennale.org, GoldDerby.LATimes.com, ArtsIndependent.co.uk, Reuters.com, EW.com and TIFF07.ca.

Woody is the New Gay American Gigolo

If the Academy Awards are the Super Bowl, then the Toronto International Film Festival is the first game of the season, kicking of the awards race for the year with a host of Oscar-bating movies eager for that much desired "early buzz".

TIFF recently announced this year's line-up, filled with world premieres from the top directors of today and starring, well, a galaxy of stars. Here is a preliminary look at some notable entrants.

- Paul Schrader, writer/director of American Gigolo, returns to the subject matter with The Walker, starring Woody Harrelson as a high society escort who, like Richard Gere before him, gets mixed up in a murder. What may set this apart from the first film is the fact that Woody's character is gay. Also stars Lauren Bacall, Kristin Scott Thomas and Lily Tomlin.
- Sidney Lumet brings together an impressive cast (Philip Seymor Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Albert Finney, Marisa Tomei) in the shocking drama, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead.
- In Neil Jordan's The Brave One, Jodie Foster is in peril ... again!
- In Captain Mike Across America, Michael Moore aims his camera at himself ... again!
- Guy Pearce is Harry Houdini and Catherine Zeta-Jones is the psychic he falls for (in more ways then one) in Gillian Armstrong's Death Defying Acts.
- Viggo Mortensen re-teams with his A History of Violence director David Cronenberg for the gritty crime drama Eastern Promises, co-starring Naomi Watts.
- Paul Haggis can boast three Oscar-winners in the cast of his home front-themed drama In the Valley of Elah: Tommy Lee Jones, Susan Sarandon and Charlize Theron.
- Rendition has three more Academy vets with Meryl Streep, Reese Witherspoon and Alan Arkin, plus nominee Jake Gyllenhaal, all wrapped-up in a terrorism scandal.
- Maria Bello, Hugh Dancy, Marc Blucas, Emily Blunt and Kathy Baker are among the members of The Jane Austen Book Club.
- Juno is a sassy pregnant teenager who comes up with a unique solution to her situation in Jason Reitman's latest comedy.
- George Clooney is Michael Clayton, a high-priced lawyer in the case of his career. Tom Wilkinson and Tilda Swinton co-star.
- And finally: Ang Lee's Lust, Caution is described as an "erotic espionage thriller", which may explain why it has been tagged with a NC-17 rating.

TIFF opens September 6 and runs through September 15.

Links via TIFF07.ca, Imdb.com and TheEnvelope.LATimes.com.

Awards Watch: The Musical!

In its fifth week of release, Hairspray continues to dazzle 'em, passing the $100 million mark this past weekend. It is well on its way to become one of the highest-grossing movie musicals of all-time.

The cast of Hairspray has other reasons to celebrate, as they are the recipients of the film's first award. The Hollywood Film Festival is honoring them with an ensemble prize. This should prove the first of many awards for the movie, especially considering that the film's DVD will be released by the end of the year (otherwise known as the height of the awards season), just in time to remind voters how great it is.

Hairspray should rake in the nominations at the Golden Globes, where there are separate categories for Comedy or Musicals. Expect nods for the film itself and star Nikki Blonsky, as well as possible supporting bids for John Travolta and Michelle Pfeiffer. One or both of the film's new songs ("Ladies' Choice" and "Come So Far (Got So Far to Go)") will certainly be nominated as well. From there the next step will be the Oscars, but we'll cross that bridge once we see how well it does at the Globes.

In related news: more Hairspray merchandise! Per the movie's own blog, there will be two calendars (one for the whole movie, one just for Link Larkin, a.k.a. Zac Efron) and several posters (again, with an emphasis on teen dream Efron) to chose from, on sale now ... and on your walls soon.

In fact, you can purchase the Hairspray calendars and postersright here from Amazon.com!

Links via BroadwayWorld.com, HollywoodAwards.com and HairsprayMovie.com.

OutFest Picks 25 Life-Changing Films

In honor of their 25th anniversary, OutFest has selected 25 GLBT movies that "changed our lives" in the past 25 years.

Ranging from mainstream hits to independent favorites, foreign films to documentaries, they are (in chronological order):

• Making Love (1982)
• The Hunger (1983)
• The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)
• My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)
• Desert Hearts (1985)
• Parting Glances (1986)
• I've Heard the Mermaids Singing (1987)
• Law of Desire (1987)
• Maurice (1987)
• Longtime Companion (1990)
• Paris is Burning (1990)
• Tongues Untied (1990)
• My Own Private Idaho (1991)
• Poison (1991)
• The Crying Game (1992)
• The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)
• Go Fish (1994)
• The Celluloid Closet (1995)
• The Incredibly True Adventure of 2 Girls in Love (1995)
• Beautiful Thing (1996)
• Ma Vie en Rose (1997)
• High Art (1998)
• Boys Don't Cry (1999)
• Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)
• Brokeback Mountain (2005)

What is always fun about lists like these is to do a breakdown of the numbers, which provides an interesting way to look comprehensively at the films represented. Thus, OutFest's list includes:

• 9 films from the 1980's.
• 14 films from the 1990's.
• 2 films from the 2000's.
• 4 documentaries.
• 2 foreign language films.
• 1987 and 1990 are the most represented years, with 3 films each.
• Rob Epstein is the only director with two films on the list: The Times of Harvey Milk and The Celluloid Closet.
• A total of 7 Oscars were won by 5 of the films, but no Best Pictures (damn you again, Crash!).

As for the breakdown of what's G, L, B or T:

• 15 films with gay subject matter.
• 8 films with lesbian subject matter.
• 7 films with bisexual subject matter.
• 6 films with transgender subject matter.

The only film to feature all four is, naturally, The Celluloid Closet.

Links via OutFest.org.

Best of the Fests: Transgender Issues

News and reviews from around the web regarding gay-themed film and festivals:

- At what point does a transgender story cross over into heterosexuality? That is the question surrounding the rejection of Raymond Rea's The Sweet New from San Francisco's Frameline Film Festival.

- Genre Magazine takes a look at the queer offerings from this year's Tribeca Film Festival, including the documentary Alexis Arquette: She's My Brother (Arquette is pictured above, with friends, at the festival).

- Bright Lights Film Journal spotlights this year's QDoc, the first gay documentary film festival.

- The Venice Film Festival announced their first major award for gay-themed works, called the Queer Lion. And yes, its wings will be "rainbow-colored".

- And if you want to know how to get your movie into a GLBT film festival, AfterEllen.com tells you how to do it.

Links via SFBayTimes.com, Frameline.org, GenreMagazine.com, TribecaFilmFestival.org, Imdb.com, BrightLightsFilm.com, QueerDocFest.org, LaBiennale.org, Advocate.com and AfterEllen.com.

Best of the Fests: Venice & Toronto

Venice and Toronto, two late summer film festivals known in the past to launch films into the end-of-year award melee, recently announced their line-ups for this year.

As has become the norm with these fests, several movies will emerge as front-runners, guaranteeing that we will be talking about them ad nauseum from now 'til Oscar night. For example, both Brokeback Mountain and The Queen made impressive debuts in Venice the past two years.

What will be the standouts this year? No one knows at this point, but a look over the scheduled films does weed out a few of interest:

- One can only imagine the Cassandra's Dream on-set conversations between Ewan McGregor, Colin Farrell and director Woody Allen.

- I can usually take (The Royal Tenenbaums) or leave (The Life Aquatic with Steve with Steve Zissou) Wes Anderson, but his The Darjeeling Unlimited does boast a nice teaser poster (above).

- Nicole Kidman did make a movie this year without Daniel Craig. She plays Margot at the Wedding (in an ugly hat) for Noah Baumbach.

- Michael Cain graduates to the Olivier role in Kenneth Branagh's high tech remake of Sleuth, opposite his Alfie doppelganger Jude Law. Check out the nifty trailer here.

- Todd Haynes finally returns with the bizarre Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There. Dylan will be played by multiple actors, including Christian Bale, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger and ... Cate Blanchett???

- A post-Brokeback Ang Lee does a 360 with the Chinese language spy thriller Lust, Caution.

- First Anne Hathaway (in this week's Becoming Jane), now Keira Knightley: James McAvoy romances another talented young actress, who reunites with her Pride & Prejudice director Joe Wright, in Antonement.

- And on the documentary front, Joan Allen, Paul Giamatti, Nathan Lane, Josh Lucas and others give voice to Trumbo, an examination of the life of blacklisted Hollywood screenwriter Dalton Trumbo.

Click here to buy Darjeeling Limitedposters from Amazon.com.

Links via GoldDerby.LATimes.com, Imdb.com and YouTube.com.

Best of the Fests: Philadelphia 2007

OutFest wasn't the only gay film festival recently. The Philadelphia Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival held their annual event as well, presenting special Artistic Achievement Awards to actor Farley Granger and director Craig Lucas.

Winners in their film competition included The Bubble (pictured), Itty Bitty Titty Committee, In Sickness and In Health and Life of Reilly.

For more information on the festival and a full list of winners, visit their official site.

Links via Imdb.com and PhillyFests.com.

Gowns by Adrian

Only San Francisco is fabulous enough to devote an entire film series to fashion on film called, appropriately enough, the "Fabulous Fashion in Film" series.

Starting tomorrow at the historic Castro Theatre with the George Cukor classic The Women (starring Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer and Rosalind Russell), the mini-film festival will also screen such well-dressed movies as Funny Face, The Best of Everything, Paris is Burning, Velvet Goldmine and The Devil Wears Prada. The series wraps up August 3rd with a pseudo-Diana Ross double feature: Dreamgirls and Mahogany.

See, I told you it was fabulous.

Links via CastroTheatre.com and Imdb.com.

Best of the Fests: OutFest Wrap Up

This year's OutFest, the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, came to a close last night, and Out in Hollywood's Greg Hernandez was there to get all the scoop.

This was a festival after all, so awards were handed out in a gala show hosted by none other then Bruce Vilanch. The big winners of the Audience Awards were The Bubble (Dramatic Feature) and For the Bible Tells Me So (Documentary Feature; click here for Greg's review), while 25 Cent Preview won two Juried Awards (U.S. Dramatic Feature and Outstanding Actors for co-stars Merlin Gaspers and Dorian Brockington). Click here for a full list of winners.

Greg also got a chance to speak to several celebs on hand, including T.R. Knight, Brothers & Sisters stars Sally Field and Matthew Rhys (who also starred in the festival favorite Love and Other Disasters) and Trevor Wright, star of Shelter, another fest fave.

And add another film to your must-see list: a documentary on out gay Christian singing duo Jason and deMarco called We're All Angels.

OutFest's closing night film was the west coast premiere of C. Jay Cox's Kiss the Bride, starring Phillip Karner, Tori Spelling and James O'Shea. The next night, it held its east coast premiere at the Philadelphia Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. For an interview with Cox (plus an uncensored rear view of O'Shea), head over to Hot in Hollywood.

Links via OutFest.org, InsideSoCal.com, Imdb.com, PhillyFests.com and HotInHollywood.tv.

Best of the Fests: OutFest 2007

Greg Hernandez over at Out in Hollywood is turning out a fine series of articles covering this year's OutFest (the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Film Festival that continues through July 23), including on-the-scene pics of such notable attendees as Alexis Arquette, Judith Light and Reichen Lemkuhl.

So what are the movies to watch out for in the future at your local theater or (more likely) DVD store? Highlights of the fest per Greg:

• The Curiosity of Chance: This comedy, set in the 1980's, tells the story of how an out teenager fits into his new high school.
• East Side Story: Romantic complications arise for Diego and his closeted boyfriend when a hot couple moves into the neighborhood.
• For the Bible Tells Me So: A documentary on how the religious right uses the good book against us; directed by Dan Karslake.
• Kiss the Bride: From Latter Days director C. Jay Cox, a soon-to-be-married straight guy finds his pending nuptials in question when his high school boyfriend shows up. Trick's Tori Spelling co-stars as the bride.
• Love and Other Disasters: A romantic comedy about a professional gal (Brittany Murphy) who plays matchmaker for her friends, including her gay pal played by Brothers & Sisters' Matthew Rhys.
• Save Me: (starring Chad Allen and Robert Gant), a romantic drama set in an ex-gay ministry. This looks to be another Brokeback Mountain, but with out gay actors in the leads.
• Shelter: Is, as Greg puts it: "the first gay surfing flick, which is great because, duh, dudes in wetsuits." Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss star Brad Rowe is one of the surfers.

Also of note is the screening of the recently restored gay classic Parting Glances, the first film in OutFest's Legacy Project, which is doing the all-important job of preserving GLBT films for the generations ahead to experience.

We'll check back in with Greg as the festival continues.

Links via InsideSoCal.com, OutFest.org and Imdb.com.

Best of the Fests: An Introduction

Did you know that there are more gay film festivals then any other kind? We'll try to keep track of them all here, plus coverage of any films of interest showing up at other headline fests, from Sundance to Cannes.