The Pass Archives - Big Gay Picture Show

Gay-Themed Moonlight & The Pass Pick Up BAFTA Nominations

January 10, 2017 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

A day after picking up a record seven Golden Globes, La La Land solidified its status as the Oscar frontrunner by picking up 11 nominations for this year’s BAFTA Awards. That included a Best Picture nomination, along with nods for Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone and director Damien Chazelle.

The next highest number of nominations were Arrival and Nocturnal Animals, which scored nine each. However there was a bit of a surprise that Martin Scorsese’s Silence was shut out entirely.

On the gay-themed front, Moonlight scored four nominations, including Best Film, Best Original Screenplay, Mahershala Ali for Best Supporting Actor, and Naomie Harris for Best Supporting Actress. It was fewer noms than some had expected for the release – especially as Barry Jenkins didn’t get a Best Director nod – although it may have been hampered by the fact that it’s not due for release in the UK until mid-February – a good time to make the most of Oscar buzz, but a little late for the more British-based BAFTA voting cohort.

Elsewhere, the excellent gay-themed The Pass, starring Russell Tovey as a closeted soccer play, scored an Outstanding Debut nomination for John Donnelly (Writer) and Ben A. Williams (Director).

Take a look at all the BAFTA nominations below. [Read more…]

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FILMS: Arrival, La La Land, Moonlight, Nocturnal Animals, The Pass

The Pass (Cinema Review)

December 9, 2016 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Starring: Arinze Kene, Lisa McGrillis, Nico Mirallegro, Russell Tovey
Director: Ben A. Williams
Running Time: 88 mins
Certificate: 15
Release Date: December 9th 2016 (UK)

The Pass is one of those movies that really shouldn’t work. While it was acclaimed on stage, you would initially think that would be the only place it would succeed. It’s setup doesn’t immediately seem to lend itself to being opened up for cinema, as it by necessity it retains a very stark three-act structure, only has four speaking roles, and just three locations. However, despite that, it’s a really good film.

The movie opens in a Romanian hotel room, where two young footballers, Jason (Russell Tovey – who also originated the role on stage) and Ade (Arinzé Kene) are preparing for what could be a career-making game the next day. While they chat, bond, and perhaps subconsciously compete for status – both just in their underwear – they also slowly flirt towards something more intimate. There may be a lot of ‘lad’s talk’ about banging chicks and hot women, but that increasingly covers their true feelings. [Read more…]

What’s Gay At The 2016 BFI London Film Festival?

September 24, 2016 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Garrett Clayton in King Cobra

Every year the BFI (British Film Institute) runs the BFI Flare London LGBT Film Festival in the spring. However, that doesn’t mean they ignore everything lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender in their other main fest, the BFI London Film Festival.

This year they’ve got a great selection, including the much anticipated Moonlight, the Russell Tovey starrer The Pass (which also opened Flare) and Kelly Reichardt’s Certain Women, starring Laura Dern, Kristen Stewart and Michelle Williams. There’s also the UK Premiere of King Cobra, about an infamous murder in the gay porn industry, and Xavier Dolan’s new movie, It’s Only The End Of The World, amongst others.

It’s certainly an interesting selection of movies, which will be screening in amongst many other great flicks when the festival runs from October 5th-16th, 2016. Take a look below for the goods on some of the LGBT movies: [Read more…]

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FILMS: King Cobra, The Pass, Moonlight

The Pass Trailer – Russell Tovey and Arinze Kene turn closeted gay footballers

September 15, 2016 By Tim Isaac 1 Comment

After opening the prestigious BFI Flare Festival, The Pass will be presented as part of the BFI London Film Festival before being released in UK cinemas, December 2016. The film is a British drama from debut Director Ben A. Williams, starring Russell Tovey (Looking, Being Human, The History Boys) and Arinze Kene.

Adapted for the screen by John Donnelly from his hit play first presented at the Royal Court Theatre, The Pass is the story of three very different nights over 10 years in the life of a Premier League Footballer. Jason (Russell Tovey) is at the beginning of his career, and on the night before his first big international match he and long-time friend and team-mate Ade (Arinze Kene) share a hotel room, trying to beat the inevitable pre-match tensions with locker-room banter and teenage high-jinks. Out of nowhere Jason kisses Ade. The emotional repercussions of this pass, and the decisions that follow on and off the pitch, have a major impact on every aspect of the public and private lives of both men across the next decade, in a sporting world where image is everything.

The cast includes Hollyoaks heart-throb Nico Mirallegro and theatre and TV actress Lisa McGrillis. Tovey, McGrillis and Mirallegro all reprise the roles they originally performed on stage. The Pass will be released in the UK by Lionsgate Films. [Read more…]

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ACTORS: Russell Tovey, Arinze Kene DIRECTORS: Ben A. Williams FILMS: The Pass

Gay-Themed Russell Tovey Football Flick The Pass To Open The BFI Flare London LGBT Film Festival

February 11, 2016 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Just a couple of years ago Russell Tovey spoke in an interview about how he’d never played a gay character, and that it would need to be a special role for him to do so, as he was proud to be an out gay man who hadn’t been pigeonholed in LGBT roles. Since then he’s played gay more than once, such as in TV’s Looking and in a cameo in Pride.

He also played an LGBT character on stage in The Pass, and has reprised the role for a movie version, alongside Hollyoaks heart-throb Nico Mirallegro and theatre and TV actress Lisa McGrillis, who also starred in the play.

It’s now been announced that The Pass will screen as opening night gala movie of the 30th edition of BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival, on Wednesday 16th March, 2016, at London’s Odeon Leicester Square. The movie comes from first-time feature filmmaker Ben A. Williams, with John Donnelly writing the script, based on his own play.

The Pass is the story of three very different nights over 10 years in the life of a Premier League Footballer. Jason (Russell Tovey) is at the beginning of his career, and on the night before his first big international match he and long-time friend and team-mate Ade (Arinze Kene) share a hotel room, trying to beat the inevitable pre-match tensions with locker-room banter and teenage high-jinks. Out of nowhere Jason kisses Ade. The emotional repercussions of this pass, and the decisions that follow on and off the pitch, have a major impact on every aspect of the public and private lives of both men across the next decade.

The play was highly praised when it was staged in London, so fingers crossed the movie will be good too.

Producer Duncan Kenworthy comments, “As a season ticket holder of a major Premier League Club, I know just how much interest there is in the question of why no currently-playing Premier League player has come out – or has felt able to come out – as gay. The Pass is by no means an issue film, but John Donnelly’s wonderful screenplay puts very handsome flesh on the bones of this modern anomaly, imagining the pain, passion and complexity of the lives of elite footballers always inches away from fame or failure, and wondering whether honesty is worth the price.”

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ACTORS: Russell Tovey DIRECTORS: Ben A. Williams FILMS: The Pass