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

Love, Simon (Cinema Review) – Gay themed teen film fun goes mainstream

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You can’t win with a gay audience. Whenever a gay-themed movie or TV show comes along that’s given a higher profile/mainstream release, it ends up generating controversy. The problem seems to be that their rarity mean people want these releases to be all things to all men (or at least reflect their personal conception of what gay entertainment should), but often course one film/show can’t represent everything.

It’s already happened with Love, Simon, with some complaining that it’s ‘yet another’ coming out story (despite the fact that coming out is one of the few nearly universal gay experiences and that the films audience of teens – and not just gay teens – won’t have seen lots of coming out movies). Others have moaned that its mainstream sensibilities deny the oppression that many LGBT people face, even though Simon’s experience is probably closer to the reality for many young gay people in the West nowadays than a ‘right on’ tale of misery and oppression. [Read more…]

New Love, Simon UK Trailer – Fresh footage from Greg Berlanti’s gay teen flick

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Last week we posted a new US trailer for Love, Simon, giving us a fresh look at a rare mainstream teen movie about a gay character. Now the UK trailer has been released, which features even more new footage from the film.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘Everyone deserves a great love story. But for seventeen-year old Simon Spier it’s a little more complicated: he’s yet to tell his family or friends he’s gay and he doesn’t actually know the identity of the anonymous classmate he’s fallen for online. Resolving both issues proves hilarious, terrifying and life-changing. Directed by Greg Berlanti (Dawson’s Creek, Brothers & Sisters), written by Isaac Aptaker & Elizabeth Berger (This is Us), and based on Becky Albertalli’s acclaimed novel, LOVE, SIMON is a funny and heartfelt coming-of-age story about the thrilling ride of finding yourself and falling in love.’

The film is due in cinemas in US cinemas on March 16th, before arriving in the UK on April 8th. Take a look at the new trailer below. [Read more…]

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New Love, Simon Trailer – Nick Robinson is a gay kid coming of age in the closet

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In mainstream movies, the only films that get gay lead characters tend to be prestige dramas that are attempting to get Oscars. However, Love Simon is something a bit special, as it’s a teen coming of age movie that’s getting a release by 20th Century Fox (and was made under their Fox 2000 banner), and happens to be about a young gay man.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘Everyone deserves a great love story. But for seventeen-year old Simon Spier it’s a little more complicated: he’s yet to tell his family or friends he’s gay and he doesn’t actually know the identity of the anonymous classmate he’s fallen for online. Resolving both issues proves hilarious, terrifying and life-changing. Directed by Greg Berlanti (Dawson’s Creek, Brothers & Sisters), written by Isaac Aptaker & Elizabeth Berger (This is Us), and based on Becky Albertalli’s acclaimed novel, LOVE, SIMON is a funny and heartfelt coming-of-age story about the thrilling ride of finding yourself and falling in love.’

The film is due in cinemas in US cinemas on March 16th, before arriving in the UK on April 8th. Take a look at the new trailer below. [Read more…]

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Love, Simon Trailer – Mainstream Hollywood brings us a gay coming of age hero in the form of Nick Robinson

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In mainstream movies, the only films that get gay lead characters tend to be prestige dramas that are attempting to get Oscars. However, Love Simon is something a bit special, as it’s a teen coming of age movie that’s getting a release by 20th Century Fox (and was made under their Fox 2000 banner), and happens to be about a young gay man.

The first proper trailer for the movie has arrived, which comes from director Greg Berlanti (the man behind TV’s Arrow-verse).

Here’s the synopsis: ‘Everyone deserves a great love story. But for seventeen-year old Simon Spier it’s a little more complicated: he’s yet to tell his family or friends he’s gay and he doesn’t actually know the identity of the anonymous classmate he’s fallen for online. Resolving both issues proves hilarious, terrifying and life-changing. Directed by Greg Berlanti (Dawson’s Creek, Brothers & Sisters), written by Isaac Aptaker & Elizabeth Berger (This is Us), and based on Becky Albertalli’s acclaimed novel, LOVE, SIMON is a funny and heartfelt coming-of-age story about the thrilling ride of finding yourself and falling in love.’

The film is due in cinemas next Spring. Take a look at the trailer below. [Read more…]

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Logan Miller Joins Greg Berlanti’s Gay-Themed Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

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Greg Berlanti’s planned gay-themed young adult movie, Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens, continues to come together. The film already has Jurassic World’s Nick Robinson attached to star, and now he has company, with THR reporting that Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse’s Logan Miller has joined the film.

Based on Becky Albertalli’s novel, the film will follow, ‘a gay teen named Simon who has not come out to his classmates. But when an email he sent to a boy (that he’s never met) falls into the hands of class clown Martin, Simon finds himself in a complicated situation when he’s blackmailed into helping Martin get to know his best friend Abby, the new girl in school.’

Robinson will play Simon, while Miller will be his blackmailer, Martin.

Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger wrote the script for the movie, although it’s not clear when it might shoot. The likelihood is that with Berlanti still busy on his DC TV series, it will begin lensing once the latest seasons of Arrow, Flash, Legends Of Tomorrow and Supergirl have wrapped in the Spring.

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Greg Berlanti To Direct Little Shop of Horrors Musical Reboot

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It seems like out producer/director Greg Berlanti may be moving away from being so actively involved in TV’s Arrow-verse (as well as producing Life As We Know It and the upcoming Riverdale – he’s a really, really busy man) and back towards the movie world.

He’s already putting together Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, which we reported yesterday has Jurassic World’s Nick Robinson attached to star, and now he’s got another movie in development, a new version of Little Shop Of Horror. The film will be a musical, presumably using the classic songs by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken from their 1982 stage version, which became a movie starring Rick Moranis. (Oddly though, the Deadline story that first reported the news doesn’t 100% specify it’ll be the Menken/Askman music).

Little Shop started out as a low budget 1960 Roger Corman b-movie, about a young man who comes across an unusual plant. However, it turns out the plant is carnivorous and wants human flesh, and so the man begins to kill to feed it. He gains fame for his emornos flora, but has to murder to get it. The 1980s musical added plenty of great 50s style tune, with the plant gaining a wisecracking, mischievous voice, courtesy of Levi Stubbs.

Matthew Robinson is writing the script for the movie, although there’s no info on when we might see it. Although the 80s version is brilliant and even now has special effects that are truly astonishing, it’ll be interesting to see what a new version might be like.

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Greg Berlanti To Direct Gay-Themed Movie Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

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greg-berlantiQuite a few people have commented that while Arrow-verse producer Greg Berlanti is openly gay, his superhero TV shows haven’t dealt with all that many LGBT characters or issues. While it’s been promised there will be more representation in the upcoming seasons – particularly with The Flash, which will be getting a gay character – it turns out Berlanti is planning on bringing a gay-themed movie to the big screen.

THR reports that he’s in talks to direct an adaptation of Becky Albertalli’s young adult best-seller Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. The book is ‘Described as a coming-of-age coming-out story, the plot centers on a high school junior named Simon whose sexual-orientation secret falls into the hands of the class clown. The latter blackmails the teen into playing cupid and while that unfolds, Simon tries to navigate a way that will let him come out to his friends and family, not pushed out.’

Some will undoubtedly roll their eyes that its ‘yet another’ coming out drama, but if handled well it could be a lot of fun. It should also be noted that Hollywood still rarely touches gay-themed topics, especially those that aren’t grown-up dramas, so it’s certainly good that one of the major studios’ indie arms, Fox 2000, is hoping to bring this young adult tale to the big screen.

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