Good on the Chicago Cubs. Thanks to their support, Landline has become what’s believed to be the first LGBT-themed movie given licensing support from a team in a US national sports league. EW spoke with the film’s director, Matthew Aaron, who says, “In my research, there’s never been a film that stars LGBTQ actors made with the association of the MLB, the NBA, the NFL, or the NHL. [But] it’s not a film about being gay. It’s about two husbands who are going through their marriage together – typical, normal problems that everyone has.
“We never thought we were going to get [licensing for] the Cubs, and we never thought we’d get [to shoot at] Wrigley Field. We were just hoping that my character would be able to wear a Cubs jersey here and there for a couple thousand dollars… [they] really wanted to support indie filmmaking, which they’ve never done before, and they wanted to support this film. To top it all off, they wanted to support a film with LGBTQ leads in it.”
So what’s it all about? Here’s the synopsis: ‘Ted Gout is an public relations executive at Sanders PR. Just after securing the account for the upcoming season for the Chicago Cubs, Ted is passed over for a big promotion that would have supplied the finances for Ted and his pro-bono working, civil-rights lawyer, husband, Jack, to purchase their dream home. To make matters worse, he was passed over for his arch-nemesis, only five years his junior, but well more fine-tuned in the arts of social media. Ted gradually loses his sanity and finds himself slowly cutting himself off from society, thanks to a chance meeting with a low-tech hippie named Norm. As Ted’s husband worries for him and Ted’s friends go along for the ride, Ted must experience the pro’s and con’s of modern technology before finding a way to win his promotion back and get their dream home. Starring Tom Arnold and Betsy Brandt!’
Landline is available now on VoD in the US. Take a look at the trailer below.
A decade ago, the movie “Breakfast with Scot” was the first LGBT movie to use a pro-sports team’s identity, etc. So this movie is a decade too late to hold that honor.