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

Taron Egerton Set To Play Elton John In Rocketman Biopic

By Leave a Comment

For the past few years Elton John and his hubby David Furnish have been working on a musical movie biopic of the singer’s life. Initially they had Ton Hardy on board for the central, but now he’s out and Taron Egerton is in, according to Variety.

John must have been impressed by the young star when they worked together on Kingsman: The Golden Circle.

There’s also been a change in the directors chair, with Dexter Fletcher (who’s just replaced Bryan Singer on the Queen biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody) taking over from the previously attached Michael Gracey. It’s previously been reported that Lee Hall’s script will follow Elton John’s journey from 5-year old musical prodigy who by age 11 won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, to a young man who rebelled against his strict upbringing, wore outrageous costumes and became a global icon who teamed with songwriter Bernie Taupin to sell more records that just about any musical artist of his era. It will also feature some fantastical elements and plenty of the singer’s music, in keeping with John’s larger than life personality. It’ll shoot this summer.

CHECK OUT THESE RELATED ARCHIVES:
ACTORS:   DIRECTORS:   FILMS:   

McQueen Teaser Trailer – Plus a great poster for the documentary about the lauded gay fashion designer

By Leave a Comment

Synopsis: ‘Mirroring the savage beauty, maverick originality and vivacity of his design, “McQueen” is an intimate revelation of Alexander [Lee] McQueen’s own personal and professional world, both tortured and inspired. It is a film which celebrates a radical and mesmerizing genius of profound influence and shows his rags-to-riches story as a modern-day fairy tale laced with the gothic.

‘As a self-described “unremarkable” working-class boy from East London, he harnessed his demons and went on to become a global one-man fashion brand and one of the most iconic artists of the century. He was a punk rebel, celebrated for overturning the silver-spoon world of Paris haute couture and ushering in the heady, revolutionary era of ‘Cool Britannia,’ as well as provoking and subverting the fashion industry in ways that often caused controversy and scandal.

‘Portraying his life from his debut collection through to the tragedy of his premature death, “McQueen” is a film that evokes Lee McQueen’s unique vision, originality and maverick sense of humour. The transformative impact of his personality and his work is captured in never-before-seen home movies, audio tapes and “behind-the-scenes” footage shot throughout his career. This material is stitched together with deeply personal interviews from close family, friends and collaborators and cinematic original material that takes us on a journey into McQueen’s mind. His fears, dreams, obsessions, desires and nightmares are on screen for the audience to re-live along with the most memorable and iconic moments in his shows – like nothing the fashion world has ever seen before, or since. The film allows us to search deeply into what made the man a unique artist of his times, as well as helping us to understand the mystery of why, at the height of his acclaim and power, he shockingly made the decision to end to it all.’

McQueen is in UK cinemas June 8th. Take a look at the US teaser trailer and UK poster below. [Read more…]

CHECK OUT THESE RELATED ARCHIVES:

First Poster From Matt Smith’s Biopic Of Gay Artist, Robert Mapplethorpe, Focus On The Crotch

By Leave a Comment

The first poster for the upcoming biopic of legendary gay photographer Robert Mapplethorpe has arrived, as like the provocative artist, it’s interested in a man’s crotch. The biopic, starring Matt Smith, has its World Premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 22nd, so it’s a good time for us to get our first look.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘Robert Mapplethorpe’s portraits, images of calla lilies, and chronicles of New York City’s underground BDSM scene remain touchstones of 20th-century photography even now, nearly three decades after his death from complications of HIV/AIDS in 1989. Mapplethorpe revisits the titular photographer’s legacy, beginning at the moment just before he takes up residence in the Chelsea Hotel. There, Mapplethorpe begins to amass a portfolio of images—and, at the same time, to explore his formerly supressed attraction to men. But Mapplethorpe’s relentless ambition—as he says in one early scene, “I can’t just be Mapplethorpe the photographer,” fancying himself a “modern Michelangelo”—threatens to tear apart the relationships he cherishes the most.

‘From the early ’70s until his untimely death at age 42, the film explores the intersection of his art and his sexuality, his struggle for mainstream recognition, and, looming above it all, the specter of the emerging AIDS crisis. Featuring Matt Smith (Doctor Who, The Crown) and Marianne Rendón, the biopic offers a nuanced portrait of an artist at the height of his craft and of the self-destructive impulses that threaten to undermine it all.’

Take a look at the poster and the first images from the movie below. [Read more…]

CHECK OUT THESE RELATED ARCHIVES:
ACTORS:   DIRECTORS:   FILMS:   

‘Gay Golden Girls’ Comedy TV Series Silver Foxes Has Been Picked Up For Development

By Leave a Comment

Last summer it was revealed that Stan Zimmerman and James Berg were working on a sitcom called Silver Foxes, described as a kind of ‘gay Golden Girls’. Zimmerman and Berg even wrote episodes of the classic 1980/1990s sitcom, as well as the likes of Roseanne and Gilmore Girls, so are well placed to take on a look at the issues of ageing gay men.

To help see if there was potential in the show, they even staged a table read of the Pilot episode for the single-camera comedy with George Takei, Leslie Jordan, Bruce Vilanch, Todd Sherry, Melissa Peterman, Daniele Gaither and Cheri Oteri involved.

Now the concept has been picked up for development by Super Deluxe (owned by Turner Broadcasting, which in turn is owned by Time Warner). While Super Deluxe is best known for producing online short-form series, it is hoping to make Silver Foxes for a cable network or streaming platform.

While it was originally said the show was about four older gay men in a senior living facility, Variety reports the current version focuses on ‘two older gay men and one twink (their buddy’s young lover) that rescue a friend who’s been forced-back-in-the-closet at his homophobic assisted living facility. After they bring him back to their mid-century Palm Springs house, the foursome creates a fabulous family of friends.’

Zimmerman and Berg were ‘inspired to make the show after seeing the documentary “Gen Silent,” which explores the lives of LGBTQ seniors navigating discrimination in nursing homes’. Silver Foxes is still fairly early in development, so there’s no news on when, or if, we’ll ever see it.

CHECK OUT THESE RELATED ARCHIVES:

Call Me By Your Name Oscar-Winner James Ivory Wishes The Film Had More Nudity

By Leave a Comment

Remains Of The Day and Howard’s End director James Ivory recently became the oldest Oscar-winner ever for his screenplay for Call Me By Your Name. However, age doesn’t mean he doesn’t with there weren’t more flesh on the screen, as talking to The Guardian Ivory has criticised how the finished movie handled its nudity. He says:

‘“When Luca says he never thought of putting nudity in, that is totally untrue,” says Ivory. “He sat in this very room where I am sitting now, talking about how he would do it, so when he says that it was a conscious aesthetic decision not to – well, that’s just bullshit.

“When people are wandering around before or after making love, and they’re decorously covered with sheets, it’s always seemed phoney to me. I never liked doing that. And I don’t do it, as you know.” In Maurice, his 1987 film of EM Forster’s posthumously published gay love story, “the two guys have had sex and they get up and you certainly see everything there is to be seen. To me, that’s a more natural way of doing things than to hide them, or to do what Luca did, which is to pan the camera out of the window toward some trees. Well …” He gives a derisive snort.’

Although many have talked about the sexy side of the movie – most particularly the peach scene – the film is actually quite coy. It seems that if Ivory has been behind the camera, things would have been different.

The writer/director also spoke about why he kept his long-term romantic relationship with Ismail Merchant – the producer side of the famed ‘Merchant-Ivory’ filmmaking partnership – a secret until after Merchant died during surgery in 2005. Even though they made films that touched on gay themes – most noticeably 1987’s Maurice – they kept quiet about their own love.

Ivory says the reason was because, “That is not something that an Indian Muslim would ever say publicly or in print. Ever! You have to remember that Ismail was an Indian citizen living in Bombay, with a deeply conservative Muslim family there. It’s not the sort of thing he was going to broadcast. Since we were so close and lived most of our lives together, I wasn’t about to undermine him.”

Call Me By Your Name is still making headlines, most recently for being pulled from the Beijing International Film Festival, according to Reuters. There was no reason given for why it was pulled, but many assumed it was a result of a Chinese Government censorship crack down. LGBT themes have long had difficulty in the country, sometimes being allowed and sometimes banned. In the last couple of years there’s been concerted efforts to remove them from the big and small screen.

There’s also been renewed interest (some would say paranoia) about foreign ideas and morality being imported into China via movies and TV, with some fearing it as a kind of cultural imperialism that’s a threat to the unity of the Chinese people. It’s possible he Call Me By Your Name screening was a victim of worries over this, particularly following recent announcement that the government wanted to be even more hands on in its censorship role than it had been previously.

CHECK OUT THESE RELATED ARCHIVES:
DIRECTORS: ,   FILMS:   

Love, Simon Actor Joey Pollari Reveals That He’s Gay

By Leave a Comment

Greg Berlanti’s gay-themed teen movie Love, Simon has received some great reviews and strong word of mouth since it opened in the US last Friday. The promotion of the film has also revealed a few interesting titbits about the cast, such as Joey Pollari revealing publicly for the first time that he is gay himself.

Pollari, who plays Lyle in the movie, is a former Disney actor who appeared in the likes of Skyrunner and Avalon High, as well MTV’s US version of The Inbetweeners. The 23-year-old spoke to The Advocate about how he came out to family and friends when he was 18, but had now decided to be open more widely.

He says of coming out, “I think all my friends and family knew on some level. I think maybe two people were shocked.”

“The only part that was difficult was me coming out to myself. And I think that is the most difficult coming-out.” He adds that “My mom knew. She laid hints for me everywhere,” and was waiting for him to come out.

While the film’s lead actor, Nick Robinson, is straight in real life, he spoke to Ellen recently about how his younger brother same out as gay during the making of Love, Simon. He told her, “I think that he had been dealing with this for a long time and this was – I think the timing was sort of coincidental but one of the best things that came out of this movie is just being able to talk to him. I think that’s the strength of a film like this is that it starts conversations, and I hope that it can do that for more people.”

CHECK OUT THESE RELATED ARCHIVES:
ACTORS: ,   

Wrinkle In Time’s Ava DuVernay To Helm DC Superhero Movie, The New Gods

By 1 Comment

A Wrinkle In Time might not have been the all-conquering box office juggernaut many had hoped the first $100+ million budget film directed by a woman of colour would be. However, while historically a single underperforming film would knock a female director’s career massively off-track, Ava DuVernay is bucking that trend, with Deadline reporting that she’s set to direct The New Gods for DC/Warner Bros.

Deadline says of the Jack Kirby created comic, ‘The New Gods was the Genesis of the uber-villain Darkseid. Also called “Fourth World,” the Kirby creation debuted in a trilogy of related comics written and drawn by Kirby that were published in the very early 1970s: New Gods, Forever People and Mister Miracle. The New Gods came into existence after the world of the gods of classic mythology were destroyed during Ragnarok. The deities inhabit two planets: one is New Genesis, a lush paradise, and the other Apokolips, which sounds like Dante’s version of hell. War ensues.’

DuVernay already knows the comics and its character, as she’s previously said her favourite superhero is Big Barda, who is one of the New Gods. The film is apparently being planned as a standalone movie rather than something that will tie into DC’s other movies. It’s now known when we might see it in cinemas.

CHECK OUT THESE RELATED ARCHIVES:
DIRECTORS:   

Moonlight Director Barry Jenkins Reveals The Oscars Speech He Never Gave

By Leave a Comment

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.”

CHECK OUT THESE RELATED ARCHIVES:
DIRECTORS:   FILMS:   

Lee Pace Affirms That He’s ‘Happily Owning’ His Place In The Queer Community

By Leave a Comment

Pushing Daisies and Halt & Catch Fire star Lee Pace raised a few eyebrows a few days ago when an interview was printed where he kind of came out as LGBT, but seemed to suggest there was something wrong with being asked about it. He said, “I’ve dated men. I’ve dated women. I don’t know why anyone would care. I’m an actor and I play roles. To be honest, I don’t know what to say—I find your question intrusive.”

Many felt it was the wrong response, especially considering his latest role as a closeted Mormon in the Broadway revival of Angels In America. He seemed to underline the issues with his own response as in the interview he also mentioned the importance of gay actors playing the gay roles in the two-part Pulitzer-Prize winning play, but then slightly stepped back from including himself in that.

However, he’s now clarified his remarks and say that it was more clumsiness than anything else that had led to his previous response. On Twitter he writes, ‘In a recent phone interview, I was asked questions that I wasn’t expecting and found myself momentarily at a loss for the right words. My privacy is important to me, so I protect it. When interviewed by the media, I keep the focus on my work… As a member of the queer community, I understand the importance of living openly, being counted, and happily owning who I am. That’s how I’ve always lived my life… just as it’s been important to me to portray queer characters with dignity for my entire career: A Soldier’s Girl (Showtime. 2003). The Normal Heart (Broadway. 2011). Halt and Catch Fire (AMC. 2014-2017). Angels in America. (Broadway. NOW.) Onward, with Pride.’

CHECK OUT THESE RELATED ARCHIVES:
ACTORS:   

A Fantastic Woman & Call Me By Your Name Pick Up Oscars

By Leave a Comment

Although there wasn’t quite as much LGBT success at the Oscars as some may have hoped, there were two awards that went our way. Out filmmaker James Ivory won Best Adapted Screenplay for the gay-themed Call Me By Your Name. It’s the first Oscar for the man who’s directed everything from Maurice and A Room With A View to Remains Of The Day and Howard’s End.

And while those hoping Timothee Chalamet would win Best Actor for CMBYM ended up being disappointed (it went to the hot favourite, Gary Oldman for Darkest Hour), Chalamet did get to go up on stage vicariously, as Ivory had a drawing of the young actor painted on his tuxedo shirt.

The other major LGBT winner was the Chilean trans-themed movie, A Fantastic Woman, which picked up Best Film Not In The English language. The film follows a trans mourning the death of her boyfriend, but who is confronted by anger and prejudice from his previous family. The movie’s star, Daniela Vega, also made history as the first trans Oscar presenter when she stepped on stage to introduced Sufjan Stevens’ performance of his Best Original Song nominee, Mystery of Love, from Call Me By Your Name.

Its also been revealed that after last year’s Best Picture mix-up, the Academy offered the cast and crew of Moonlight another chance to pick up their award, without the confusion of La La Land thinking they’d won first. However, they turned the opportunity down.

The big winner of the night was The Shape Of Water, which picked up four awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for Guillermo Del Toro. Frances McDormand won Best Actress for Three Billboards and gave a barnstorming speech about inclusion, while the Best Supporting Actress and Actor awards went to Alison Janney for I, Tonya and the hotly tipped Sam Rockwell for Three Billboards.

Another standout moment was British cinematographer Roger Deakins finally winning for Blade Runner 2049. Long considered one of the best in the business, this was his 14th nomination but the first time he’s won. His first nomination was for The Shawshank Redemption back in 1995, so it’s long overdue.

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

CHECK OUT THESE RELATED ARCHIVES:

picture-show-logo-600pxSignup for our daily newsletter and get the latest gay-focused film news and reviews for free