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

Moonlight Director Barry Jenkins Reveals The Oscars Speech He Never Gave

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Last year the Oscars suffered just about the biggest mix-up it was even possible for it to suffer when the wrong Best Picture winner was read out. The result was that when it was finally revealed that the gay-themed Moonlight was the real winner, in the confusion the makers of the movie didn’t get to give the speeches they’d planned and say what they wanted to.

The Academy gave director Barry Jenkins and the film’s producers the chance to receive their Best Picture award properly at this year’s ceremony, they declined as it couldn’t recapture the moment they had lost. However, at SXSW Jenkins has revealed what he would have said.

He starts with a shout-out to Tarell McCraney, whose wrote the play the movie was based on. Here’s the speech, as reprinted by Deadline, “Tarell and I are Chiron. We are that boy. And when you watch Moonlight, you don’t assume a boy who grew up how and where we did would grow up and make a piece of art that wins an Academy Award — certainly don’t think he would grow up to win Best Picture. I’ve said that a lot and what I’ve had to admit is that I placed those limitations on myself. I denied myself that dream — not you, not anyone else — me. And so, to anyone watching this who sees themselves in us, let this be a symbol, a reflection that leads you to love yourself. Because doing so may be the difference between dreaming at all and somehow, through the Academy’s grace, realizing dreams you never allowed yourself to have.”

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Ashton Sanders & Jharrel Jerome Win Best Kiss For Moonlight At The MTV Movie Awards

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Moonlight hasn’t doesn’t winning awards yet, as last night at the MTV Movie Awards, it picked up Best Kiss for the smooch between Ashton Sanders and Jharrel Jerome as the teenage versions of Chiron and Kevin. Of course the scene in question on the beach involved a bit more than just a kiss, but it was for the lip locking that they got their gong.

The two actors also had a powerful message, with Jerome saying, “On a real note, I think it is safe to say that it is OK for us young performers, especially us minority performers, to step out of the box. It’s OK for us to step out of the box and do whatever it takes to tell the story and whatever it takes to make the change. This award is for that. It’s for us artists who are out there, who need to do whatever it takes to get people to wake up.”

Sanders added, “This award is bigger than Jharrel and I. This represents more than a kiss. This is for those who feel like the others, the misfits – this represents us.”

You can take a look at their speech below. [Read more…]

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Crush Of The Day: The Cast Of Moonlight Strips To Their Calvins

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Moonlight may have just picked up three Oscars – including it’s shock Best Picture winner, literally taking it from the hands of Moonlight – but it appears the cast aren’t solely interested in awards. No, they’re keen to let people know what they look like in their underwear.

And we have to say, they look very, very good.

It seems there might have been a bit of a quid pro quo here, as Calvin Klein dressed a lot of the Moonlight cast and crew at the Academy Awards, and now the first images from a new Klein campaign featuring Mahershala Ali and three men who played Chiron – Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders and Trevante Rhodes – have arrived.

They may all be very good actors, but Ali and Rhodes in particular show they look extremely good with their shirts off. And quite frankly Trevante lounging around in briefs is an image that should be up for awards all on its own.

Take a look at some of the pics below: [Read more…]

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Moonlight Takes The Best Picture Oscar, While La La Land Picks Up Six Awards

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Well, writers have something new to include when it comes to Oscars biggest gaffes and bloopers – and this one will probably top the list for a very long time. Faye Dunaway read out that La La Land had won the Best Picture Oscar, the producers came up to the stage, and then, partway through the acceptance speeches, they were interrupted to be told, actually no, it was Moonlight that was the big winner.

The mistake came about due to Dunaway and Warren Beatty being handed the wrong envelope, which read ‘Emma Stone – La La Land’. It was presumably was a duplicate of the Best Actress envelope, as Stone did win for that one. Despite a pause and Stone’s name being there, Dunaway decided to read it anyway.

After the mix-up, surprise winner Moonlight went off to gets its Best Picture gong. It’s impressive for a movie few had heard of before its release, and is about the sort of character – young, black, poor and gay – that the Academy Awards usually give short shrift to. However, perhaps thanks to the Academy’s diversity drive this year, where they set out to invite people from groups traditionally under-represented in the Oscar voting pool to become members, it has triumphed. Some has also suggested it perhaps partially redresses the balance after the gay-themed Brokeback Mountain lost out on the Best Picture to the now half-forgotten Crash, despite winning Best Director for Ang Lee. Moonlight now becomes the first gay-themed movie to win the Academy’s biggest prize.

Moonlight also picked up Best Supporting Actor for Mahershala Ali and Best Adapted Screenplay for Barry Jenkins. Ali’s win also marked the first time a Muslim has taken an acting Oscar.

While La La Land had the Best Picture Oscar taken from its hands – literally – which probably tarnished the evening for them, the movie did win more awards than any other film, six in total. That includes Damien Chazelle, who becomes the youngest ever Best Director winner at the age of only 32.

Alongside Stone for Best Actress and Ali for Best Supporting Actor, the other performance gongs went to Casey Affleck who got Best Actor for Manchester By The Sea, and Viola Davis who picked up Best Supporting Actress for Fences. Davis’ win also puts her in the exclusive club of those who’ve won an Oscar, an Emmy and a Tony award.

You can take a look at a full list of winners below. [Read more…]

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Moonlight & Other Gay-Themed Movies Are The Big Winners At The Independent Spirit Awards

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Each year the day before the Oscars, the Independent Spirit Awards are held, which were set up as the equivalent of the Hollywood-centric Academy Awards but for movies made outside the mainstream. This year the big winner was Moonlight, which picked up five gongs.

The film, about three stages in the life of a young gay man, picked up Best Feature, Best Director and Best Screenplay for Barry Jenkins, Best Cinematography for James Laxton and the Robert Altman Award for Best Ensemble. It’s an impressive result for the movie, which is also hoping to win some awards at the Oscars. While most expect La La Land to be the big winner at the Academy Awards, many hope Moonlight will at least be able to at least pick up a couple Oscars, and some think it has a decent chance of providing an upset and winning Best Film.

Moonlight wasn’t the only gay-themed film that triumphed at the Independent Spirit Awards. Molly Shannon won Best Supporting Actress for playing the dying mother of a gay son in the dramedy Other People. There was also Andrew Ahn’s Spa Night, about a Korean-American teenager who finds an underground world of gay sex in a Korean spa, which took home the John Cassavetes Awards for Best Feature Made For Under $5,000.

It was certainly a gay-heavy evening! The Oscars only have Moonlight representing gay-themed cinema, so we’ll have to cross our fingers that it manages to win a few awards there too. Take a look at the full list of Independent Spirit Award winners and some highlights below. [Read more…]

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Moonlight (Cinema Review) – The gay-themed multi-Oscar nominee finally reaches the UK

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Oftentimes it’s not too far into the year when you can see which movies are likely to be lining up for the Oscar race. However, Moonlight seemingly came out of nowhere, became far more successful at the US box office than most expected (setting records along the way) and immediately had people suggesting it ought to be up for loads of awards. Even so, many wondered whether it would miss out, simply because it was a small film released by a US distributor that doesn’t have the money for the sort of massive Oscar campaign a studio can mount.

Thankfully it defied the odds, scoring eight Oscar nominations. It’s taken a while, but now the movie is arriving in the UK, and it’s been worth the wait. [Read more…]

La La Land Takes The Big Prize At The EE BAFTAs, But Moonlight Walks Away Empty Handed

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Do you know one of the reasons the Golden Globes and the BAFTAs manage to attract so many star names? It’s because of when they’re held. The Golden Globes come just a few days before AMPAS members have to submit who they think should be nominated for the Oscars, and the BAFTAs come just before the deadline for them to say who they think should win.

However, as the British equivalent of the Oscars, the BAFTAs are a big ceremony in their own right, and the stars descended on London’s Royal Albert Hall to see who would win.

La La Land was the big winner, taking Best Film, Best Director for Damien Chazelle, Best Actress for Emma Stone, as well as a few others. In the other acting categories, Casey Affleck took Best Actor for Manchester by the Sea, Viola Davis was given Best Supporting Actress for Fences, while Dev Patel won Best Supporting Actor for Lion.

Amongst the other awards there was a good spread of films being honoured, including I Daniel Blake, Kubo & The Two Strings, Jackie, Arrival and Hacksaw Ridge. However, notable by its absence was Moonlight, which may have won numerous Best Film accolades at other awards, but got nothing from the BAFTAs. However, the movie was hampered by the fact it’s only just being released in the UK. The other main LGBT hope for the evening, The Pass – which was up for Outstanding British Debut – also lost out.

Take a look at the full list of winners below (winners in bold): [Read more…]

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GLAAD Calls For LGBT Progress In Hollywood After Only Two Widely Released Films Are Nominated In Their Latest Awards

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With the success of Moonlight, you could be forgiven for thinking it’s been an okay year for LGBT movies. However, it’s the first time in several years that only one movie with significant LGBT content has been nominated at the Oscars. That’s underlined by the fact that when GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) released the nominees for their annual awards earlier this week, only two movie were nominated for ‘Outstanding Film – Wide Release’ -(Moonlight and Star Trek Beyond).

And considering Star Trek Beyond’s gay content was pretty much blink and you’ll miss it, it shows just how few LGBT characters and issues were in Hollywood-backed and/or widely distributed films last year. That compares to last year, when Carol (which won), The Danish Girl, Dope, Freeheld and Grandma all competed for the award.

GLAAD did find plenty of good films for its ‘Outstanding Film – Limited Release’ shortlist (The Handmaiden, Naz & Maalik, Other People, Spa Night, Those People), but none of those movies had studio backing and had very limited exposure in cinemas. (GLAAD uses their own formula for Wide and Limited release, taking into account ‘number of screens played, budget, and visibility’).

“At a time when progress is at a critical juncture, it is imperative that Hollywood tell more LGBTQ stories that reflect the community’s rich diversity — and build understanding that brings all communities closer together,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement. She adds, “This year’s nominees have created images and storylines that challenge misconceptions and broaden understanding, accelerating acceptance and equality for LGBTQ people across the globe.”

Last year GLAAD essentially sent Hollywood a ‘must do better’ notice with their latest Studio Responsibility index, which covered 2015 releases, and on this evidence, they’ll be doing the same for their next one.

Take a look at the full list of GLAAD Media Awards nominees below. [Read more…]

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Mahershala Ali Gives Impassioned Speech Against Persecution After His SAG Award Win For Moonlight

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Mahershala Ali​’s chances of winning the Best Supporting Actor Oscar just increased significantly, as the acting winners of the SAG Awards often mimic the eventual winners of the Academy Awards.That’s not surprising as the Academy’s membership has far more actors than any other film discipline and there’s a large crossover of voting members.

However, it wasn’t just Ali’s win for role in the gay-themed movie Moonlight that had people talking (he also won as part of the ensemble for the movie Hidden Figures), but also his impassioned speech as a Muslim man winning an award shortly after Trump’s executive order preventing travel for people from several Muslim-majority countries. “I think what I’ve learned from working on Moonlight is we see what happens when you persecute people,” he said.

Ali continued, “They fold into themselves—what I was so grateful about in having the opportunity to play Juan was playing a gentleman who saw a young man folding into himself, as the result of the persecution of his community, and taking the opportunity to uplift him, tell him that he mattered, that he was okay, accept him. And I hope that we do a better job of that.

“When we get caught up in the minutiae, the details that make us all different, there’s two ways of seeing that. You can see the texture of that person, the qualities that make them unique, or you can go to war about it, say, ’That person is different from me, I don’t like you, so let’s battle.’”

He then added his own personal story, saying, “My mother is an ordained minister. I’m a Muslim. She didn’t do backflips when I called her to tell her I converted 17 yrs ago. But I tell you now, you put things to the side and I’m able to see her and she’s able to see me. We love each other. The love has grown. And that stuff is minutia. It’s not that important.”

Ali plays drug dealer Juan in Moonlight, who take a persecuted young, gay man under his wing.

While Mahershala didn’t mention Trump by name, Lily Tomlin, who received a lifetime achievement award was slightly more forthright, saying, “Any activist should really talk about how to mount some kind of legislation against whatever it is that they are opposed to. You’ve got to change the laws, just like he’s changing… I don’t wanna make this comparison—but the Nazis, they changed the laws if they didn’t agree with them. They just changed them and they could do whatever they wanted.”

You can take a look at Mahershala Ali’s speech below. [Read more…]

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Moonlight Leads Gay & Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association Dorian Award Winners

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The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association Dorian Award winners have been announced, and not too surprisingly, a lot of love has gone to Moonlight. The melancholy gay-themed drama, adapted from Tarell Alvin McCraney’s play about three phases of a man’s life, won five Dorians, including Film of the Year, LGBTQ Film of the Year, Director and Screenplay for Barry Jenkins and Best Film Actor for Mahershala Ali. Trevante Rhodes, who was nominated for Actor alongside Ali, was given the ‘We’re Wilde About You!’ Rising Star Award (named for the group’s patron saint, Oscar Wilde).

The Oscar frontrunner, La La Land, wasn’t completely left out though, winning Visually Striking Film of the Year. Viola Davis, who recently named by GALECA as one of the 10 Best Actress of All Time, earned Best Film Actress Fences. Movies that also scored wins include Christine, the devastating docudrama starring Rebecca Hall as ill-fated ‘70s newswoman Christine Chubbuck; the lesbian-tinged spectacle The Handmaiden; and the Kate Winslet romp The Dressmaker (for Campy Flick of the Year).

In the TV categories, The People v. O.J. Simpson won GALECA’s Drama of the Year, while one of its stars, Sarah Paulson, took TV Actress honors for her turn as prosecutor Marcia Clark. For the third year in a row, Amazon’s Transparent won TV Comedy of the Year, LGBTQ Comedy and TV actor for Jeffrey Tambor.

In a year rampant with voices demanding to be heard, former The Daily Show cast member Samantha Bee’s new TBS hit Full Frontal, a satirical and/or pointed take on current affairs, cut through the static and merited a Dorian Award. GALECA members also saw fit to reward Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of the increasingly relevant Broadway hit Hamilton, as well as Saturday Night Live star/political satirist Kate McKinnon (twice). The late Carrie Fisher  was posthumously named Wilde Wit of the Year .

Then there’s John Waters, who was recently announced as this year’s GALECA Timeless Star, who offered this statement: “A ‘Timeless Star’? Wow! Does that mean good-old or crazy-new? Either way, I’m thrilled and honored to be called a star no matter which side of the camera I choose to be on.” The creator of Hairspray, Serial Mom, Polyester and Pink Flamingos, joins past honorees Jane Fonda, Sir Ian McKellen, George Takei, Lily Tomlin, Betty White and Cloris Leachman.

GALECA is comprised of over 170 film/TV critics and entertainment journalists from across the US, Canada and the UK, and exists to bolster LGBTQ entertainment journalists as well as remind the world, and our at-risk youth, that ‘the gays’ have a distinct cultural history of helping put great movies and TV shows on everyone’s radar.

Take a look at the full list of Dorian Award winners below: [Read more…]

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