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Big Gay Picture Show

Taking a look at the world of film through gay eyes - news, reviews, trailers, gay film, queer cinema and more

Taking a look at the world of film through gay eyes - news, reviews, trailers, gay film, queer cinema & more

I Am Michael (DVD Review) – James Franco goes ex-gay in a true-life story

April 3, 2017 By Tim Isaac 2 Comments

Starring: Charlie Carver, Emma Roberts, James Franco, Zachary Quinto
Director: Justin Kelly
Running Time: 98 mins
Certificate: 15
Release Date: April 3rd 2017 (UK)

Michael Glatze (James Franco) is a gay man who really wants to help people. Initially working for XY Magazine before increasingly becoming an activist and launching YGA (Young Gay Americans), he becomes a prominent figure advancing the gay cause. However, Michael still feels something is missing. That’s despite having a loving boyfriend, Bennett (Zachary Quinto), and the sometime addition of a third into the relationship, Tyler (Charlie Carver).

After a health scare where he’s convinced he has the disease that caused his father to drop down dead, Michael increasingly turns to religion. What initially seems like an attempt to find meaning and reassurance that death is not the end, takes an unexpected turn when Michael leaves Bennett and publicly announces that he no longer identifies as gay. This causes a bit of a sensation, but Michael is determined he must live his own ‘truth’. That includes his new belief that homosexuality leads people away from being their ‘true selves’, which is the only way to find God. Eventually that takes him into a relationship with a woman. [Read more…]

I Am Michael Trailer – James Franco & Zachary Quinto star in the long-delayed ex-gay drama

December 26, 2016 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

It’s almost two years since I Am Michael premiered at the Sundance Film Festival – enough time for director Justin Kelly and producer/star James Franco to have made and released another movie, King Cobra. However, it’s only now that the movie is coming to VoD and a few cinemas in the US in January.

Even the promised threeway between Franco, Zachary Quinto and Charlie Carver couldn’t get it released sooner.

Adapted from Benoit Denizet-Lewis’ New York Times Magazine article ‘My Ex-Gay Friend, I Am Michael tells the real-life story of Michael Glatze (Franco), formerly a leading US journalist for prominent gay magazine XY, and also an activist working for LGBT rights. After a profound and life-changing epiphany, Glatze gradually renounced his homosexuality and turned to Christian ministry, becoming outspokenly opposed to queer lifestyles.

Zachary Quinto plays his ex-boyfriend, Bennett, with Emma Roberts, Daryl Hannah and Charlie Carver also starring.

The film got a rather mixed reaction at cinemas, which perhaps isn’t surprising for a movie that takes on the difficult subject of ex-gay ministry, and makes its ‘hero’ a man who went from gay to outspoken homophobe, and who to this day is married to a woman.

Finally a trailer has been released. Take a look below. [Read more…]

CHECK OUT THESE RELATED ARCHIVES:
ACTORS: Charlie Carver, Daryl Hannah, Emma Roberts, James Franco, Zachary Quinto  DIRECTORS: Justin Kelly  FILMS: I Am Michael  

Teen Wolf’s Charlie Carver Reveals He’s Gay In Heartfelt Essay

January 12, 2016 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

charlie-carver-teen-wolfWhile it’s been a fairly open secret for some time, Charlie Carver, one half of the werewolf twins from Teen Wolf, has come out as gay in a multi-part essay he penned on Instagram. Carver was first seen in Desperate Housewives, before finding further success in Teen Wolf, The Leftovers, and more recently, the gay-themed movie I Am Michael.

Carver’s heartfelt words read: Pt 1: “Be who you needed were younger”. About a year ago, I saw this photo while casually scrolling through my Instagram one morning. I’m not one for inspirational quotes, particularly ones attributed to “Mx Anonymous”- something mean in me rebukes the pithiness of proverbs, choosing to judge them as trite instead of possibly-generally-wise, resonant, or helpful. And in the case of the good ol’ Anonymous kind, I felt that there was something to be said for the missing context. Who wrote or said the damn words? Why? And to/for who in particular?

Nonetheless, I screen-capped the picture and saved it. It struck me for some reason, finding itself likeable enough to join the ranks of the “favorites” album on my phone. I’d see it there almost daily, a small version of it next to my other “favorites”; I’d see it every time I checked into the gym, pulled up a picture of my insurance cards, my driver’s license…. Important Documents. And over the course of about-a-year, it became clear why the inspirational photo had called out to me.

As a young boy, I knew I wanted to be an actor. I knew I wanted to be a lot of things! I thought I wanted to be a painter, a soccer player, a stegosaurus… But the acting thing stuck. It was around that age that I also knew, however abstractly, that I was different from some of the other boys in my grade.

Over time, this abstract “knowing” grew and articulated itself through a painful gestation marked by feelings of despair and alienation, ending in a climax of saying three words out loud: “I am gay”. I said them to myself at first, to see how they felt. They rang true, and I hated myself for them. I was twelve. It would take me a few years before I could repeat them to anyone else, in the meantime turning the phrase over and over in my mouth until I felt comfortable and sure enough to let the words pour out again, this time to my family…

Pt 2: For anyone who can identify with that experience (and I think we all can to some degree; saying something from a place of integrity, owning and declaring oneself), the immediate and comingling sense of relief and dread might sound familiar to you. For me, and my family, it was a precious conversation, one where I felt that I’d begun to claim myself, my life, and what felt like the beginning of a very-adult-notion of my own Authenticity. For that, and for them, I am forever grateful. *Note “Coming Out” is different for everyone. You can always Come Out to yourself. Coming Out as Gay/Bi/Trans/Non-Binary/Yourself or What-Have-You is at first a personal and private experience. If you’re ready and feel safe, then think about sharing this part of yourself with others. I recognize that I was born with an immense amount of privilege, growing up in a family where my orientation was celebrated and SAFE. If you feel like you want to Come Out, make sure first and foremost that you have a support system and will be safe. I would never encourage anyone to Come Out only to find themselves in harm’s way – a disproportionate number of Homeless American (and Global) Youth are members of the LGBTQ community who were kicked out of their families and homes out of hate and prejudice. It is a major issue in-and-of itself, and a situation not worth putting oneself at risk for.

The more I adjusted to living outwardly in this truth, the better I felt. But my relationship to my sexuality soon became more complicated. The acting thing HAD stuck, and at nineteen I started working in Hollywood. It was a dream come true, one I had been striving for since boyhood. But coupled with the overwhelming sense of excitement was an equally overwhelming feeling of dread- I would “have to” bisect myself into two halves, a public and private persona, the former vigilantly monitored, censored, and sterilized of anything that could reveal how I self-identified in the latter.

I had my reasons, some sound and some nonsensical. I do believe in a distinction between one’s professional life and their private one…

Pt 3: After the first episode of television I shot went to air, it became clear to me that I was at least no longer anonymous. For the first time, I found myself stopped on the street, asked to take a picture by a complete stranger – part of the job I had willingly signed up for.

Fame, to whatever degree, is a tricky creature. In this day and age, particularly with the access offered by social media, it demands that you be On, that you be Yourself, Always, in your work and to your fans. In this way, the distinction between public and private has become blurry, begging questions like “to what extent do I share myself? Do what extent do I have to?” When it came to this differentiation of public/private, I was of the opinion that my sexuality could stay off the table. While my Coming Out was very important for me, I wanted to believe in a world where one’s sexuality was for the most part irrelevant. That it didn’t “matter,” or that at least it was something that didn’t need to or ideally shouldn’t ever have to be announced to a stranger, a new colleague, an interviewer. Even the words “Coming Out” bothered me.

I took issue with them insofar as that “Coming Out” implied being greeted with attention, attention for something I would prefer to be implicitly just Human, an attribute or adjective that was only part of how I saw my whole self. I did not want to be defined by my sexuality. Sure, I am a proud gay man, but I don’t identify as a Gay man, or a GAY man, or just gay. I identify as a lot of things, these various identifications and identities taking up equal space and making up an ever-fluid sense of Self.

Furthermore, as an actor, I believed that my responsibility to the craft and the business was to remain benevolently neutral – I was a canvas, a chameleon, the next character. For the most part I had a duty to stay a Possibility in the eye of casting, directors, and the public. If I Came Out, I feared I would be limiting myself to a type, to a perception with limits that I was not professionally comfortable with. And I created in my imagination an Industry that was just as rigid in this belief as well.

Pt 4: After having the privilege of playing a range of characters, gay, straight and otherwise, I realize this is not the case. Things in this business have changed and will continue to. Thank GOD. I know that because of all of the brave men and women who’ve come out, self-identified, or couldn’t have possibly ever been “In”. So to them, I am also forever grateful.

But then I saw that little photo on Instagram. Well, in truth, it had found me long after I’d made up my mind to write something like this. There were so many drafts and plans, none of them ever getting off the ground. So I bided my time, justifying the silence with the fact that I hadn’t really ever been “in”. I tried to live as authentically as I’ve known how to, as a gay guy, since that concept became available to me, only once or twice intentionally dodging the ever ill-timed question with the subtext that might have as well read “ARE YOU GAY???” I’ve lived “out,” not feeling the need to announce so. I was comfortably out in my private life. And for a time, that was enough.

Things change. There’s a lot about the Now that I’m very excited about these days. I feel like more and more people, particularly young people, are striving to create a safe world for each other. We’re learning new vocabularies to help others feel heard when they try and articulate their perceived “otherness”- words like cis- and trans-, non-binary, fluid… We’re together exploring the possibilities of the Social Media Frontier, experimenting with new ways to connect, galvanize, and awaken. I get fucking MOVED every time I hear a high school voted in their transgender classmate as Prom King or Prom Queen, or when I see Twitter afire with outrage over mistreatment, brutality, and injustice. But I also mourn over what feels like a lot of anger and righteous indignance. I long for the world to be simple, for everyone to feel happy and safe in who they are as individuals and members of a community. I can only hope that the beginning of this unrest is productive, something our generation(s) is moving through in order to end up someplace better.

Pt 5: But what can I do? How can I participate? Honesty is probably a great step in the right direction. I now believe that by omitting this part of myself from the record, I am complicit in perpetuating the suffering, fear, and shame cast upon so many in the world. In my silence, I’ve helped decide for to you too that to be gay is to be, as a young man (or young woman, young anyone), inappropriate for a professional career in the Arts (WHAAA???) So now, let the record show this- I self-identify as gay. And does that really matter anymore? As a young man, I needed a young man in Hollywood to say that- and without being a dick about it, I owe it to myself, more than anything, to be who I needed when I was younger.

Happy 2016, and all my best to you and yours in the year ahead.

And let the record show my twin brother is just as cool for being straight.

Much love,
C

CHECK OUT THESE RELATED ARCHIVES:
ACTORS: Charlie Carver  

I Am Michael (BFI Flare Opening Night Film Review)

March 18, 2015 By Scott Elliott Leave a Comment

Starring: James Franco, Zachary Quinto, Charlie Carver, Emma Roberts
Director: Justin Kelly
Certificate: NR
Release Date: March 19th 2015 (BFI Flare Gala)

Chosen as the Opening Night Gala film for this year’s BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival, this is an angry-making film. It’s supposed to be as it’s probably the first Going In movie, in that it’s a reversed Coming Out tale: I am Michael tells the story of how Michael Glatze went from out gay activist and editor of San Fransisco-based gay magazine XY to a straight, married Pastor in Wyoming.

The film opens with James Franco as Michael and Zachary Quinto as his loving-yet-bland boyfriend Bennet. Apparently they’re happily in love in San Francisco, both running a gay magazine and helping gay youth in 2001. We watch as Bennett and Michael go from being happy together to being happy in a three-way relationship with Tyler (played by the ab-tastic Charlie Carver). At least, we assume they’re happy together – at no point does anyone say “I am happy being gay with you”, which is about the level of some of the exposition this script has in places. Michael is moody. Bennett is bland. Tyler is pretty. That’s about it. [Read more…]

Things Get Steamy Between James Franco, Zachary Quinto & Charlie Carver In New I Am Michael Pics

January 22, 2015 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

i-am-michael-new-pic1With the Sundance Film Festival about the kick off, a lot of indie filmmakers are preparing to show off their movies for the first time, and that includes Justin Kelley, who’s taking I Am Michael to Robert Redford’s Utah-based fest.

With the premiere only a few days away, a new batch of images have arrived, some of which show things getting a bit sexy, including James Franco kissing Zachary Quinto (of as Franco describes him on Facebook, ‘the legendary’ Zachary Quinto). However the one that’s really likely to get your pulse racing is one of the ones below that features a threesome between Franco, Quinto and Teen Wolf star Charlie Carver.

Rumours of the threesome scene have already surfaced, with it previously described as ‘very hot’, with trio  ‘intertwined and kissing’, and that ‘You see their asses.‘

Based on a true story, in I Am Michael, James Franco plays Michael Glatze, who went from being a prominent gay rights advocate to becoming one of the poster-boys for the ex-gay movement when he found God, renounced his homosexuality and married a woman. Quinto plays Glatze’s onetime boyfriend, with Emma Roberts, Darryl Hannah and, of course Charlie Carver, also starring. [Read more…]

CHECK OUT THESE RELATED ARCHIVES:
ACTORS: James Franco, Zachary Quinto, Charlie Carver  DIRECTORS: Justin Kelly  FILMS: I Am Michael  

‘Very Hot’ James Franco, Zachary Quinto & Charlie Carver Threesome Promised In Michael

November 25, 2014 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

michael-franco-quinto-pic1Michael is already shaping up to be one of the highest profile gay-themed movies of 2015. But often when LGBT movies are hoping for a bit of mainstream appeal, all the actual full-on gay content gets scrubbed out. However if E! Online is correct, Michael is set to offer the extremely enticing prospect of a ‘very hot’ James Franco, Zachary Quinto & Charlie Carver threesome.

A source told E!, “They first meet in a club. The music is pumping. It’s the eighties! When Charlie’s character questions Franco about having a boyfriend, Franco says, ‘He’d like you, too.'”

The scenes then cuts to the bedroom, where the guys are naked, ‘intertwined and “kissing,” the source said. “You see their asses.”‘

Based on a true story, in Michael Franco play Michael Glatze, who went from being a prominent gay rights advocate to becoming one of the poster-boys for the ex-gay movement when he found God, renounced his homosexuality and married a woman. Quinto plays Glatze’s onetime boyfriend, with Emma Roberts, Darryl Hannah and, of course Charlie Carver, also starring.

Expect it in cinemas sometime next year.

CHECK OUT THESE RELATED ARCHIVES:
ACTORS: Zachary Quinto, James Franco, Charlie Carver  DIRECTORS: Justin Kelly  FILMS: I Am Michael  

James Franco’s Ex-Gay Activist Movie Gets Teen Wolf’s Charlie Carver

August 15, 2014 By Tim Isaac 1 Comment

charlie-carver-teen-wolfIt seems Charlie Carver can’t get enough of playing gay characters on screen. In Teen Wolf he was Ethan, who got involved in a relationship with the openly gay Danny, and now it seems he’ll be having an all-male threesome in Michael, the James Franco starring movie that tells the real-life story of Michael Glatze, who went from LGBT activist to ex-gay poster boy.

Deadline reports that Carver has joined the already filming movie as ‘Tyler, who gets involved in a relationship with Michael and Bennett (Zachary Quinto) and is heartbroken when Michael rejects his homosexuality’

As a young man, Glatze launched the magazine Young Gay America after working at XY, becoming a leading voice in the gay rights fight. However in 2004 he had a health scare involving a possible heart defect, which caused him to turn to conservative Christianity. Shortly afterwards he completely renounced everything he had previously stood for and said that he was now ‘ex-gay’. The 38-year-old is currently married to a woman.

Charlie Carver’s career until now has largely been in roles that call for twins, which saw him starring alongside his identical brother Max in the likes of Desperate Housewives, Teen Wolf and most recently the TV series The Leftovers, however it appears he’ll be getting a solo outing without Max in Michael.

CHECK OUT THESE RELATED ARCHIVES:
ACTORS: James Franco, Charlie Carver, Zachary Quinto  FILMS: I Am Michael  

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