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

Mark Ruffalo Takes Screen Actors Guild Award For The Normal Heart (& Accepts From His Bed In London)

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normal-heart-bomer-ruffaloThe LGBT brigade had a lot to cheer at the Screen Actors Guild, with two awards for Orange Is The New Black with Orange Is The New Black walking away with two awards and Mark Ruffalo winning Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie for his impressive turn in The Normal Heart.

Ruffalo played gay man Ned Weeks in the film, who ends up on the frontline of the fights against AIDS after the initially mysterious disease first started affecting the gay male community, and was met with antipathy, fear and outright hostility from many in healthcare and the government.

Orange Is The New Black meanwhile walked away with Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series, while the wonderful Udo Uduba got some individual love winning Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series. It’s particularly impressive for Aduba as the award usually goes to someone who’s a lead in a show, while Uzo won despite playing a supporting character. She can now add it to her Emmy and Critics’ Choice Award.

As the awards are voted for by actors, who make up the largest voting block for the Oscars, many see the Screen Actors Guild as one of the best bell-weathers for the Academy Awards. As such Birdman got a boost by winning Best Motion Picture ensemble, while Eddie Redmayne and Julianne Moore cemented their Oscar frontrunner position by winning the SAG Film Lead Acting gongs.

Rather entertaininly though, Ruffalo wasn’t on hand to pick up his award, so he ending up tweeting an impromptu acceptance speech from his bed in London, where he’s working on Avengers 2 reshoots. You can take a look at what he said below.

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Gay & Lesbian Entertainment Critics’ Dorian Awards Go To Transparent, Pride & More

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dorian2015-nomineesIf most awards are a bit too straight for you, then GALECA – the Gay & Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association – and their Dorian Awards are for you. They had out gongs for both mainstream and gay-themed films, as well as in more unusual categories such as Campy Film Of The Year, and Wilde Wit Of The Year.

Now this year’s winner’s have been announced, with Boyhood getting Best Film Of The Year. It’s a good omen as for the past two years GALECA has chosen the movie in that category that went on to win the Best Picture Oscar. Eddie Redmayne and Julianne Moore took the film Film Performance gongs, while Ava DuVernay got Best Director Selma.

On the gay front, there was an extremely strong field of contenders for LGBTQ Film Of The Year, including Stranger By The Lake, Love Is Strange and the multi-Oscar nominated The Imitation Game, but in the end it went to the excellent Pride, which also picked up Unsung Film Of The Year.

In the TV categories, Transparent was by far the biggest winner, scoring TV Comedy of the Year, TV Director of the Year for Jill Soloway, TV Performance of the Year – Actor for Jeffrey Tambor and LGBTQ TV Show of the Year. The Normal Heart also stood out, taking TV Drama Of The Year.

Take a look below for the full list of this year’s Dorian Award winners.

Film of the Year
Boyhood – Sundance Selects/IFC

Birdman – Fox Searchlight
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Fox Searchlight
The Imitation Game – The Weinstein Company
Pride – CBS Films

Film Performance of the Year – Actor
Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything – Universal

Steve Carell, Foxcatcher – Sony Pictures Classics
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game – The Weinstein Company
Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler – Open Road
Michael Keaton, Birdman – Fox Searchlight

Film Performance of the Year – Actress
Julianne Moore, Still Alice – Sony Pictures Classics

Essie Davis, The Babadook – Sundance Selects/IFC
Anne Dorval, Mommy – Lionsgate
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl – 20th Century Fox
Reese Witherspoon, Wild – Fox Searchlight

Film Director of the Year
Ava DuVernay, Selma – Paramount

Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel – Fox Searchlight
David Fincher, Gone Girl – 20th Century Fox
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Birdman – Fox Searchight
Richard Linklater, Boyhood – Sundance Selects/IFC

LGBTQ Film of the Year
Pride – CBS Films

The Imitation Game – The Weinstein Company
Love is Strange – Sony Pictures Classics
Stranger by the Lake – Strand Releasing
The Way He Looks – Strand Releasing

Foreign Language Film of the Year
Mommy – Lionsgate

Force Majeure – Magnolia Pictures
Ida – Music Box Films
Stranger by the Lake – Strand Releasing
Two Days, One Night – Sundance Selects/IFC

Unsung Film of the Year
Pride – CBS Films

Obvious Child – A24
Love is Strange – Sony Pictures Classics
The Skeleton Twins – Roadside Attractions
Snowpiercer – Radius/TWC

Documentary of the Year
(theatrical release, TV airing or DVD release)
The Case Against 8 – HBO

CitizenFour – Radius/TWC
Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me – Sundance Selects
Life Itself – Magnolia Pictures
Regarding Susan Sontag – HBO

Visually Striking Film of the Year
(honoring a production of stunning beauty, from art direction to cinematography)
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Fox Searchlight

Birdman – Fox Searchlight
Interstellar – Paramount
Snowpiercer – Radius/TWC
Under the Skin – A24

Campy Flick of the Year
Into the Woods

Annie
Gone Girl
Maleficent
Tammy

TV Drama of the Year
The Normal Heart – HBO

Fargo – FX
The Good Wife – CBS
How To Get Away with Murder – ABC
Mad Men – AMC

TV Comedy of the Year
Transparent – Amazon

The Comeback – HBO
Modern Family – ABC
Orange is the New Black – Netflix
Veep – HBO

TV Director of the Year
Jill Soloway, Transparent – Amazon

Lisa Cholodenko, Olive Kitteridge – HBO
Jodie Foster, Orange is the New Black -Netflix
Andrew Haigh, Looking – HBO
Ryan Murphy, The Normal Heart – HBO

TV Performance of the Year – Actor
Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent – Amazon

Matthew Bomer, The Normal Heart – HBO
Matthew McConaughey, True Detective – HBO
Mark Ruffalo, The Normal Heart – HBO
Kevin Spacey, House of Cards – Netflix

TV Performance of the Year – Actress
Lisa Kudrow, The Comeback – HBO

Viola Davis, How to Get Away with Murder – ABC
Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife – CBS
Tatiana Maslany, Orphan Black – BBC America
Frances McDormand, Olive Kitteridge – HBO

TV Musical Performance of the Year
Neil Patrick Harris, “Sugar Daddy,” The Tony Awards – CBS

Beyonce, MTV Video Music Awards – MTV
Jessica Lange, “Life on Mars,” American Horror Story: Freak Show – FX
Macklemore, Ryan Lewis, Madonna, et al., “Same Love,” The Grammys – CBS
Prince, Saturday Night Live – NBC

LGBTQ TV Show of the Year
Transparent – Amazon

Looking – HBO
Modern Family – ABC
Orange is the New Black – Netflix
Please Like Me – Pivot

Unsung TV Show of the Year
Getting On – HBO

Looking – HBO
Orphan Black – BBC America
Please Like Me – Pivot
Transparent – Amazon

TV Current Affairs Show of the Year
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart – Comedy Central

Anderson Cooper 360 – CNN
The Colbert Report – Comedy Central
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver – HBO
The Rachel Maddow Show – MSNBC

Campy TV Show of the Year
Jane the Virgin

American Horror Story: Freak Show
How to Get Away with Murder
Peter Pan Live!
Penny Dreadful

Music Video of the Year
Sia, “Chandelier”

Nicki Minaj, “Anaconda”
Perfume Genius, “Queen”
Taylor Swift, “Blank Space”
Meghan Trainor, “All About That Bass”

The “We’re Wilde About You!” Rising Star Award
Gina Rodriguez

Ansel Elgort
Jack Falahee
Ellar Coltrane
Jack O’Connell
Finn Wittrock

Wilde Wit of the Year
(honoring a performer, writer or commentator whose observations both challenge and amuse)
John Oliver

Stephen Colbert
Rachel Maddow
Bill Maher
Jon Stewart

Wilde Artist of the Year
(honoring a truly groundbreaking force in the fields of film, theater and/or television)
Jill Solloway

Xavier Dolan
Neil Patrick Harris
Richard Linklater
Tilda Swinton

Timeless Award
(to an actor or performer whose exemplary career is marked by character, wisdom and wit)
George Takei

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Matt Bomer & Transparent Win At The Golden Globes

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matt-bomerMatt Bomer is certainly having a great week. Just a few days after picking up a People’s Choice award he’s won himself a Golden Globe for his excellent performance as an HIV+ man in The Normal Heart.

That wasn’t the only LGBT interest at the Globes, as Amazon’s original TV series Transparent did well, picking up both Best Television Series – Comedy Or Musical, and Best Actor In A Television Series – Comedy Or Musical for Jeffrey Tambor. Transparent creator Jill Soloway dedicated the show’s award to Leelah Alcorn, a transgender teen who recently took her life, leaving a heartbreaking suicide note online. Tambor meanwhile dedicated his win to the transgender community.

This year’s Oscar race is pretty open, but last night’s Golden Globes have helped point out the frontrunners. The big winners in the Best Film races were Boyhood for Drama and The Grand Budapest Hotel for Comedy Or Musical. Boyhood also took Best Director for Richard Linklater, putting it in good stead for a major showing at this Thursday’s Oscar nominations.

In the film acting races, Eddie Redmayne took best actor in a Drama for The Theory of Everything while Julianne Moore won the Actress award for Still Alice. For Comedy Or Musical Amy Adams won best actress for Big Eyes, with Michael Keaton taking best actor for Birdman. Patricia Arquette won best supporting actress for her role in Boyhood, while J.K. Simmons won Whiplash best supporting actor for.

Despite numerous nominations, The Imitation Game, about gay hero Alan Turing, walked away with nothing, while Pride, which was a surprise nominee in the Best Picture – Musical Or Comedy race, couldn’t continue to surprise with a win. Matt Bomer was the only win for the acclaimed Normal Heart, with Fargo winning the Best TV Movie or Mini-Series award that many thought Heart could walk away with. Orange Is The New Black also failed to pick up a gong, despite scoring three nominations.

Take a look at the full list of Golden Globes winners below. [Read more…]

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Big Gay Picture Show’s Top 10 LGBT- Themed Films Of 2014

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top-10-lgbt-films-2014There is a lot of good work going on in the world of LGBT film (and to be honest, a lot of rubbish too), but due to the fact it’s a bit of a niche area, far fewer people are aware of it than there ought to be. So in an effort to help shine a light of those movies that anyone interested in queer cinema really ought to check out, we’ve put together this Top 10 of 2014’s LGBT-themed movies.

To be in for consideration, BGPS  needed to have reviewed the movie over the last 12 months. It should also be noted it’s not based purely on the score out of 10 we gave the movie at the time of the review, but also how we view it in hindsight and whether it’s stuck with us over the months. So take a look below to see what we think is the best of 2014. [Read more…]

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Larry Kramer Talks Adapting The Normal Heart Sequel For The Screen

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larry-kramerAfter more than 20 years of trying to get it made, The Normal Heart finally made it to screens last summer to huge acclaim, going on to win two Emmys and score three Golden Globe Nominations. It also scored a large enough audience that HBO backed Larry Kramer to adapt his follow-up, the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Destiny Of Me, for the network, with Ryan Murphy set to direct.

Now he’s been talking to Variety about it, saying, “I’m about two-thirds of the way through the first pass. It starts around the end of ‘The Normal Heart’ in 1984. And it goes [through to] the appearance of the first drugs around 2001. Mark Ruffalo, who we hope will repeat his performance, will have to play Ned at a few times in his life: at the time of ‘The Normal Heart’; in the middle where he gets sick; and today.”

Ruffalo isn’t the only actor he hopes will be back, as he adds, “The part of Tommy, which I hope will be played again by Jim Parsons, is much bigger. He becomes a more important character in the sequel, as he was in my real life.”

The same is true of Julia Roberts, with Kramer commenting that, “In the sequel, the part of the doctor is quite dramatic in that her polio returns and she has to go into an iron lung, and she conducts business from the hospital.”

Many had wondered what the notoriously difficult to please Kramer would think of The Normal Heart film, but he was delighted with the results, saying of the first time he saw it, “I was brought in from the hospital in a wheelchair to an HBO screening room to watch the final version. It was an experience more surreal than anything else. I wasn’t able to really take in the magnitude of Ryan’s achievement… I’ve been very happy. I thought the cast was superb, and HBO has got to be the most wonderful producers in the world.”

However while he notes that gay people are represented on TV more, he still feels there’s a long way to go for LGBT people, saying, “I don’t see what I want to see. We’re still a population of people tragically unrepresented by power. We are very disorganized in terms of power in Washington, our ability to lobby, our ability to get what we’re entitled to and the few organizations that we have are not strong enough. We still don’t fight hard enough and we’re still denied so much in terms of equality. Marriage, that goal will probably happen, I guess. But everybody has been concentrating on marriage at the expense of other issues—certainly health care, insurance and AIDS, which is still very prevalent in the gay world. Sadly, the drugs that have come along to control HIV have sent a lot of people back into living the kind of life that got us in trouble in the first place.”

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Imitation Game, Pride & Normal Heart Lead A Great Year For LGBT Entertainment In The Golden Globe Nominations

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pride-better-slideIt seems far too early for the Awards Season to have started, but with the Oscars recently moving earlier in the year it’s pushed all the other shows up as well. That means that while 2013 hasn’t ended yet and several of the big award contenders are yet to be released, the Golden Globe nominations are already out, ahead of the ceremony on January 11th, 2015 (which is deliberately timed to be handed out just a few days before Oscar nomination ballots are due).

Often seen as the biggest (or at least noisiest) bellweather for the Academy Awards, this year Birdman led the movie list with seven nominations, while Boyhood and The Imitation Game got five each.

On the TV side Fargo led the way with five nominations, while True Detective scored four.

There were some surprises, with Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken being completely shut out, while Pride getting a Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical nomination was impressive for a film that had little awards buzz and which scored just $1.4 million on its US release (despite near universal rave reviews). The hope is that the Golden Globe buzz may encourage a few more Oscar voters to check out the British film about a group of gay men and lesbians who form a bond with the small Welsh villagers during the 1980s miners’ strike.

Imitation Game and Pride led a great year for LGBT entertainment at the Globes, which also included Transparent scoring a nomination for Best Television Series – Comedy or Musical, and the series’ star, Jeffrey Tambor, being acknowledged in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Comedy or Musical category.

The Normal Heart was also included with a Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television nomination, while both Mark Ruffalo and Matt Bomer amongst the acting nominees. Similarly Orange Is The New Black is up for Best Television Series – Comedy or Musical, with acting noms for Taylor Schilling and Uzo Aduba.

You can take a look at the full list of nominations below: [Read more…]

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Laverne Cox Makes History As The First Transgender Emmy Nominee Ever

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laverne-cox-oitnbThe rise of Orange Is The New Black’s Laverne Cox continues with the actress scoring a Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series Emmy nomination, which marks the first time a transgender person has ever been so honoured.

Cox’s nomination is just one of 12 the show received, with the series’ actresses dominating the comedy categories. Alongside Laverne in the Guest Actress list are Natasha Lyonne and Uzo Aduba, Kate Mulgrew is up for Best Supporting Actress and Taylor Schilling will compete for Best Actress In A Comedy Series.

It was a good year for LGBT-themed entertainment, as along with Orange Is The New Black’s noms, The Normal Heart scored major attention for its actors, as Mark Ruffalo is up for Best Actor In A Miniseries Or Movie, while in the Best Supporting Actor category it scored an incredible four of the five noms for Alfred Molina, Jim Parson, Joe Mantello and Matt Bomer. Julia Roberts also got a look in on the Supporting Actress list.

Indeed, looking through the list of Emmy nominees the vast majority of shows included in the list include gay content, from Modern Family and Game Of Thrones, to Masters Of Sex and Downton Abbey.

However, while it’s been an incredible year for Laverne Cox, topped by her Emmy nomination and being featured on the cover of Time, the actress has been talking recently about how her rise to success has come with a dark side – as more public exposure has resulted in increased attacks on her on the internet. While it has often been noted that social media has allowed transgender people to start controlling their own public stories for the first time, the flipside is that it means the entire world can answer back, and many people are both cruel and almost stunningly bigoted.

In an emotional interview with BET, Cox says, “I’ve felt it since the cover of TIME Magazine, like all of a sudden like my Twitter feed and my Instagram there’s all this negativity. I was getting Google Alerts about me [somehow being in league] with Satan.”

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

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President Obama Called Ryan Murphy To Say He Enjoyed The Normal Heart

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normal-heart-bomer-ruffaloNormal people watched The Normal Heart, but President Obama had a screening. I’m not sure why anything the President sees is a ‘screening’ but that’s the terminology that’s always used. One of his recent ‘screenings’ was the acclaimed The Normal Heart.

And it seems he was impressed as afterwards he made a surprise phone call to director Ryan Murphy to congratulate on him of the film.

Deadline reports the Pres phoned Murphy to say how much he liked the film, as well as that he found it incredibly moving. He was also interested in how it came together – a process that took nearly three decades.

The director confirmed the call, saying, “The whole movie is about Larry trying to get the attention of Washington, and 30 years later, to get a call from the President is a full-circle moment.”

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The Normal Heart (TV Review)

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In the last few years there seems to have been a renewed interest in the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s. There have been documentaries, films and books, as well as major re-stagings of Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart. The reason for this is probably twofold.

Firstly there is a whole generation of LGBT people who weren’t even born when AIDS first emerged, many of whom know little about it. Even if they do know about it, they often treat it like something from the dim and distant past that has nothing to do with them (as I’ve said before, the fact gay-history isn’t taught in schools tends to make many people, including many gay people, think there isn’t one or that it isn’t important). Secondly, those who survived the emergence of ‘gay cancer’ are now getting older (Kramer is now 78) and so it’s not surprising that they should want their stories recorded to ensure that it’s those who lived through it who control the narrative. [Read more…]

Ryan Murphy Says Mark Ruffalo & Matt Bomer Were ‘Terrified’ Of Their Normal Heart Sex Scenes

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It’s just a few days until The Normal Heart debuts in the US (unfortunately it still doesn’t seem clear when those in the UK will get to see it), and the movie’s stars and director have been out in force to promote it.

That include Ryan Murphy, who helmed the movie, as he’s been talking (via HuffPo) about the movie and says that the sex scenes were particularly problematic. He’s says that initially Matt Bomer and Mark Ruffalo were both actors were ‘terrified’ of the scenes, as neither had done anything like it before.

“Mark, I believe, had never kissed a guy, ever, on camera,” Murphy says. “And he had certainly never had that level of sexuality. And I don’t think Matt had either. So I had a gay actor [Bomer] and a straight actor [Ruffalo]. And they were both terrified. But I just threw them into it.”

To get it right they even hire an on-set sex choreographer.

On the first day of shooting Murphy decided to challenge the guys, filming a scene that involves Ruffalo coming of a sauna where two guys are going at it. He walk by Bomer, pretty much ignoring him, as Bomer looks on lasciviously.

“We shot that almost as an homage to the bathhouse ads they used to run in New York in the early ’80s,’ he says. ‘So we just got into it, man. We just got into it. And they were nervous but they were game. They knew it was an important part of the story. They went for it.”

You can hear the full interview below and watch a new clip from The Normal Heart above.

[Read more…]

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