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

Looking: The Book (Book Review)

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TV’s Looking had a slightly rough ride, getting as many detractors as fans, partly because we’d finally got a gay-themed show that took its characters seriously, but by treating its characters as flawed people, it couldn’t represent everything to everyone. And when it didn’t match up to what people’s own conception of exactly what a gay-themed show should be (who often seemed to want plaster saint gays), it got bashed. That translated into the fact it never found a huge audience, so we got two seasons of the show and a movie to wrap things up, but that’s it.

However, it has got a big enough following that it’s inspired a hardback coffee-table book, limited to 1,000 first run copies. [Read more…]

Looking: The Movie Trailer – First look at the wrap-up for HBO’s gay-themed series

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looking-movie-trailer-slideIt’s a real shame with Looking, as the fact it didn’t become a real success has probably made it more difficult to get gay-themed series made in the US. Perhaps most tragically is that I have a feeling that in years to come it will be viewed a lot more favourably than it is now.

Thankfully though, while HBO decided to cancel it after two series, they have allowed it a final, one-off movie to wrap everything up. That should ensure we get to know what happens to the characters played by the likes of Jonathan Groff, Russell Tovey, Frankie J. Alvarez, Murray Bartlett and Raul Castillo.

HBO has now released the first trailer for the film, which will debut in the US on July 23rd. It should arrive in other countries shortly thereafter. Take a look at the trailer below. [Read more…]

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Looking Co-Creator Andrew Haigh Talks About The Show’s Cancellation & The Difficulty Of Gay Representation

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andrew-haighAfter the success of his gay-themed movie Weekend, it was a good idea to hire Andrew Haigh to help develop the show Looking, but even he couldn’t overcome the difficulties the show faced, with the series getting cancelled after Season 2 (although a final, two-hour ‘movie’ will wrap things up).

Now Haigh has chatted with Attitude about the difficulties Looking faced from both those who hated it before they’d properly seen it, and how representing LGBT people on screen can be extremely difficult.

He says of the initial reaction from the gay community, “A lot of people seemed to talk about it without actually watching it. So many people said ‘I didn’t watch your show, I didn’t like it’, but they’d admit they barely watched the pilot. So you’re making a judgment on two seasons of a show after watching just five minutes, and turning it off because somebody was being jerked off in a wood and you didn’t like what that said about gay people.”

As with various other shows that have featured gay people, Looking had to deal with those who didn’t like that it included negative aspects of gay life, and it perhaps faced more scrutiny as many were hoping it would be their personal ‘perfect’ look at gay men. However, when it wasn’t how they hoped they’d be represented (whether what the characters were doing was valid to the wider gay experience or not), they turned against the show.

Haigh comments, “I do think it is rooted in a fear where we want representation in the world, but only of the best of us. Now, it is of my feeling that if we want true acceptance, then we should be accepted fully, as shitty people, who have emotional baggage and who do find it hard to be gay. I have no problem with those characters being on screen…

“For years, I wanted to see myself represented on screen. But it is frustrating when you create characters, whose stories you are trying to tell, and you come up against all of this anger and hatred. I had so many people saying, ‘I hate that Patrick character, he is awful, he is just not me!’ And I’d look at them and think, ‘You do know, you are actually Patrick?!’”

As for the Looking feature-length finale, Haigh says, “I can tell you nothing! Look, it’s not going to be massively different from what you’ve seen before, there’s not going to be aliens or anything over dramatic but I think it’s a nice way for us to bring the stories to a kind of semi-conclusion and wrap some things up – to have a final chapter to it.”

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HBO’s Gay President Says It Was ‘Very Painful’ to Cancel Looking

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looking-s1-slideLooking arrived with great fanfare on TV in early 2014, but while it attracted a lot of interest and comment, it never became a big ratings winner for HBO. As a result shortly after Looking – Season 2 aired it was revealed that it had been cancelled, although there is still the promise of an upcoming two-hour Looking movie to help wrap things up.

Despite it’s relatively low ratings, it was a difficult cancellation for HBO’s openly gay president of programming Michael Lombardo, who TVLine reports as at the Television Critics Association summer press tour, “I thought the show, creatively, was really doing something that I hadn’t seen on any other show, particularly dealing with gay lives. As a gay man, in particular, I was very proud that there was a show that felt like it was dealing very honestly and openly with gay men and their lives, without putting them into a comedic mode.”

As a result, “ending that show was, on a personal level, very painful for me” but on a business level, the weak ratings “didn’t support us going forward”.

However there is still the promise of the two-hour Looking movie, which will air in early 2016, and will hopefully give us some closure of the story of Patrick, Agustin, Dom, Kevin and co.

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TV’s Looking Has Been Cancelled, But The Boys Will Get A Wrap-Up Special

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looking-s1-slideIt’s been a short and interesting run, bitHBO has announced that after two seasons, they won’t be renewing their gay-themed show Looking for a third outing. If you’re panicking that this means you’ll never find out what happens next for Patrick (Jonathan Groff), Agustin (Frankie J. Alvarez), Dom (Murray Bartlett), Kevin (Russell Tovye) and co., there is some small solace, as the TV network has promised that things will get wrapped up with a feature-length special.

The news isn’t too unexpected, as after decent ratings for Looking very first episode, the viewer numbers dropped and it’s never really recovered. It’s a shame, as its slightly wonky first few episodes seem to have put a lot of people off, meaning they’ve missed out on the fact that it’s improved significantly and its second season showed promise that it would become a truly excellent series – indeed its sophomore run got a decent amount of praise from critics.

To show how low things had dropped, just 298,000 US viewers tuned in for the recent season two finale, which is just over half the number who watched the final episode of Season 1.

At least we’re not being left completely high and dry and there will be a TV movie that will hopefully bring closure to the stories the the gay San Franciscans. That special is expected to air later this year.

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Russell Tovey Says He Only Touches Straight Men’s Balls If a Script Tells Him To (Sort Of)

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russell-toveyGood old Russell Tovey, he’s got a good moral code where he doesn’t believe in touching straight men’s balls unless a script tells him he should. Not really, or at least we presume he had his tongue somewhat in his cheek in a recent chat with Heat magazine.

He says of doing sex scenes with another guy, “It’s easier doing those scenes with another gay man than it is a straight man, the same way I feel fine doing sex scenes with a woman.

“When I’m doing a sex scene with an actor who is straight, I feel a huge sense of responsibility not to feel like I’m taking advantage or anything. Like, I’ll only touch their balls if it says so in the script.”

He’s also well aware that in the modern age, if you’re going to take your shirt off or get nude on screen, there are plenty of people out there who will screenshot it, post it online and analyse every frame, and understandably Russell wants to ensure that he looks as good as he can.

He says of preparing for his sexy scenes in Looking, “I keep the bush low, trim the chest hair and I like to get the nipples more erect, so I’ll tweak them a bit too. Erect nipples add so much to a scene I think.

“I do worry about how I’m going to look in screen-grabs and GIFS. You know it’s going to happen.”

He’s certainly got a decent sense of humour even if he leaves you wondering how serious he might be being.

You can check out a fun vid taken during his Heat photoshoot below. [Read more…]

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Nominees Announced For Gay & Lesbian Entertainment Critics’ Dorian Awards

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dorian2015-nomineesThe Golden Globes may be over and the Oscars may be a month away, but what is undoubtedly the most important gongs of the year have just announced their nominees – the Dorian Awards, as handed out by GALECA (Gay & Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association). And yes, part of the reason it’s the most important is that I’m a member, but of course that doesn’t sway my opinion of it at all.

GALECA is comprised of over 100 critics and entertainment journalists, who’ve picked their nominations across 25 categories, from mainstream to LGBTQ-centric, including four newly-added runs, such as Film Director of the Year, TV Director of the Year and Music Video of the Year. GALECA’s mission to honor content ‘from mainstream to gaystream’ has led to an unusually wide variety of nominations and winners since its inception in 2009. For example the organisation’s previous choices for Film of the Year include those that have gone on to Oscar success, such as 12 Years a Slave and Argo, along with less lauded (but equally worthy) fare like Weekend, I Am Love and A Single Man.

Amongst this year’s nominations, Birdman has the edge with four noms in the movie categories, including Film of the Year, while Michael Keaton is up for for Film Performance of the Year – Actor. Just behind are The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Imitation Game and the crowd-pleaser Pride, about blue-collar miners and LGBTQs standing united for a cause.

In the TV categories, the transgender-comes-out-to-their-family dramedy, Transparent, leads with five nominations, including nods for star Jeffrey Tambor and creator Jill Soloway (for TV Director of the Year). The Normal Heart, Orange is the New Black and the new drama How to Get Away with Murder (for TV Drama of the Year, star Viola Davis and Campy TV Show) are also well-represented.

LGBTQ-specific categories for TV and film have their own surprises. For example in the LGBTQ Film Of The Year category, the mainstream success The Imitation Game is nominated alongside the likes of The Way He Looks – a movie that grossed less than $100,000 on its US release.

One winner is known already, as Star Trek icon and LGBTQ-rights activist, George Takei, has been named Timeless Star. GALECA has previously awarded such luminaries as Lily Tomlin and Sir Ian McKellen with this career achievement honor.

This winners will be announced on Tuesday, January 20th, with the group’s annual, free-wheeling Winners Toast set for Sunday, March 1, in Los Angeles.

Check out the full list of nominees below. [Read more…]

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Looking – Season 1 (DVD Review)

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This time last year we previewed the first four episodes of Looking ahead of its first airing on Sky Atlantic in the UK. While I definitely felt it had promise, there’s no doubt that those four eps alone also had quite a lot issues, largely due to the fact that with each episode only clocking in at 30 minutes it had trouble properly setting up its world and moving the story along at a decent pace. However even within those four instalments there was improvement, so how does the full season stack up now it’s arriving on DVD?

The show follows a group of gay friends in San Francisco, mostly focussing on Jonathan Groff’s Patrick, a videogame designer who’s feeling a bit lost and is looking for love. He meets Richie (Raul Castillo) but the path of true love certainly doesn’t run smooth, especially with the arrival of Patrick’s new British boss Kevin (Russell Tovey), who offers the possibility of passion and a real connection, even though he’s in a relationship with someone else. [Read more…]

Chatting With Looking’s Frankie J. Alvarez: Handling Criticism & Being On ‘Team Ritchie’

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looking-frankie-j-alvarezIt’s a big month for fans of Looking, as the first season has just arrived on Blu-ray and DVD, and Season 2 is starting on TV (the first episode has already in the US and the it should arrive on Sky Atlantic in the UK shortly).

To celebrate the Season 1 DVD release of the show – which is about a group of gay friends in San Francisco – we caught up with Frankie J. Alvarez, who plays Agustin in the show, to put our questions to him. It was one of his first on-screen roles and he’s had to deal with a very mixed reaction to his character, so what does he think of it all? [Read more…]

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Looking Season 2 Trailer – Jonathan Groff, Russell Tovey & co. return

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looking-s2-trailer-slideIt’s not too long now until we get to return to the San Francisco world of Patrick (Jonathan Groff) and his friends, and now we get to take our first proper look with a full length trailer, which shows us the boys are going on a trip together and there’s still plenty of emotional heartache to deal with.

When we left them Patrick was still in the midst of an increasingly complicated love triangle with Kevin (Russell Tovey) and Richie (Raul Castillo), Agustin (Frankie J. Alvarez) had split up with Frank (O.T. Fagbenle) and Dom was busy trying to find his place as a gay man in early middle age.

It looks like there’s still plenty of drama to come as those stories develop.

Season 2 kicks off on HBO in the US on January 11th and should arrive on Sky Atlantic in the UK shortly afterwards. [Read more…]

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