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

Gay Prostitute Film Simple Moves Seeks Completion Funding

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A few months ago we featured the trailer for Pau Maso’s movie Simple Moves, and now the film is nearing completion and looking for funds to get the score finished. The people behind the movie have set up an IndieGoGo campaign to raise $6,000 to get the music for the movie done.

While music might not seem the most glamorous parts of a film to fund, it’s one of the most important. One of the biggest issues facing producers of indie films is music, as few festivals or niche distributors will take movies that don’t have music rights cleared or a score they own – to do that, it’s not unknown for more money to be spent on music than on the entire rest of the movie. Simple Moves has Dave Klotz though, who will be composing the score. He’s worked on films such as Exiled, Replicant, Fulltime Killer, The Unleashed, among many other movies. The funding will help him complete the score, and get the movie finished, so it can be submitted to festivals.

Simple Moves tells the story of an illegal Russian boy in the city of New York, whose mother commits suicide and he becomes an escort, ultimately and painfully struggling as he finds a new self who enjoys this newly developed dark side.

You can watch the promo made for the funding campaign above, or click here for the trailer, and of course head over to IndieGoGo campaign to find out more and maybe pledge some cash..

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Out In The Open Trailer – Gay celebs talk about being out and proud

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Out In The Open seems to have a simple but interesting premise, with gay celebs, politicians and other folks talking about being out and proud, and what they think about homo issues, and the importance of being openly gay in the public arena.

Now a trailer and extended featurette for the documentary have been revealed, with the makers of the movie setting up a Kickstarter campaign to get the film completed. They’re looking for an ambitious $75,000, which represents the final 20% of the costs (the rest was charity funded). The money will pay for ‘Post Production costs – Editing – Color correction – Sound and Music – Travel and equipment rental for final interviews – Print and Advertising – Distribution costs.’

It certainly looks like a doc that will be worth watching, featuring interviews with Olympic diver Greg Louganis, professional poker player Jason Somerville, actor and ally Eric Roberts, and various others, all under the direction of actor Matthew Smith, who decided to come out even though he’d lived in fear of losing acting jobs if he did.

Smith says, “Out in the Open began during Pride Week 2010 in Los Angeles, California as a way to prove to people that the LGBT community is not the way it has been portrayed to the rest of the world. I remember sitting in my hotel room watching tv and thinking to myself “I’m so boring and normal! These stereotypes about the LGBTQ community is bogus, why doesn’t anyone know this?” Since then, Out in the Open has taken on a life of its own, blossoming into beautiful true life stories that will leave you inspired to be out and be open.”

Take a look at the trailer and featurette above and below, and if you fancy giving some cash or just want more information, head over to Kickstarter.

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Rupert Everett ‘Can’t Think Of Anything Worse’ Than Two Dad Families

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Rupert Everett isn’t a man to tow the party line when it comes to gay issues, and has a refreshing and sometimes exasperating tendency to speak his mind. He’s previously said he’s not a fan of the idea of gay marriage, and now he’s come out against families with two father.

Talking to the Sunday Times, he says, “[My mother] still wishes I had a wife and kids. She thinks children need a father and a mother and I agree with her. I can’t think of anything worse than being brought up by two gay dads. Some people might not agree with that. Fine! That’s just my opinion. I’m not speaking on behalf of the gay community. In fact, I don’t feel like I’m part of any ‘community.’ The only community I belong to is humanity and we’ve got too many children on the planet, so it’s good not to have more.”

He didn’t seem quite a disapproving in 2000, when he starred opposite Madonna in The Next Best Thing, where he played a gay man who ends up having a baby with is straight best friend. But I suppose it was a man and a woman raising a child, so perhaps that’s okay then.

Although everyone is entitled to their opinion, Everett’s answer sounds more like he’s conflating several separate issues – over-population, gay parenting, lack of a sense of community – into something that doesn’t necessarily hold together. And quite why two gay dads is so terrible isn’t clear, other than he does sometimes have issues with his own sexuality, which he could be projecting.

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Daniel Radcliffe To Host Online Trevor Project Chat This Sunday

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Daniel Radcliffe has been a strong supporter of The Trevor Project for several years now, speaking out for the organisation, helping promote their mission and appearing in PSAs (one of which you can see below). Now Harry Potter is going to host a live online chat this Sunday (September 16th, 2012) to talk about The Trevor Project’s Talk To Me campaign. The Trevor Project is the leading US organisation providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth.

The chat is being timed to coincide with National Suicide Prevention Month, with Radcliffe helping host the chat that will look at ways of trying to prevent suicide and make life better for LGBT people, particularly young people, in crisis. The Talk To Me campaign according to its website, ‘is The Trevor Project’s campaign for conversation. With 3 simple words – talk to me – you let a friend know that you CARE about them and are willing to listen without judgment. During National Suicide Prevention Month in September we encourage you to take the Talk to Me pledge and let the ones you love know you’re always available to talk.’

It’s a great idea, and Daniel will be helping out. You can even ask him a question via the Talk To Me website, ahead of the chat at 2.00pm EST (7.00pm BST) on Sunday, 16th September, 2012.

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Buffy Comic Adds Billy The Gay Slayer

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When it was on TV, Buffy was always very gay-friendly, and now it’s living on in comic form, it’s getting moreso, as Dark Horse Comics, which also produces Hellboy and Star Wars comics, has announced that they’re adding a gay slayer character in the next issue, due out in October, according to Out.

Drew Z. Greenberg, the comic’s producer said: “It’s a very honest, very sweet story (well, a sweet story with a fair amount of death and mayhem, but still sweet!) about a young man who wants to be a hero”

He adds, “I have no problem telling a story about a boy who’s always felt more comfortable identifying with what society tells him is more of a feminine role. So much crap gets heaped upon us as gay men — crap from straight people and, frankly, crap from other gay people — about how it’s important to be masculine in this world, how your value is determined by your ability to fit into masculine norms prescribed by heterosexual society and, sadly, co-opted by gay society as a way to further disenfranchise and bully those who don’t meet those norms,”

“And those attitudes are a reflection of not just our own internalized homophobia, but of our misogyny, too, and that’s something I’ve never understood. So if this is a story that causes people to examine traditional gender roles and think of them as something more fluid, I’m thrilled.”

Jane Espenson, who wrote the newest issue, titled, Billy the Vampire Slayer: Part 1, said: “We’re hardly pandering when we make a comic book. There’s always growing pains when making progress, but I think cycnicism in the face of inclusion may not be a profitable route in making progress.” Espenson, who was a producer on the Buffy TV show, is also behind the gay web series Husbands, which recently started its second season (with a Joss Whedon cameo, no less).

It’s also rumoured that Billy may be joined by another gay male character in an upcoming issue. It’s been a big years for gay characters in comics, with gay weddings in both Archie Comics and X-Men, while the latest incarnation of Green Lantern was revealed to be gay back in June.

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Chris Crocker & Josey Greenwell Join Matt Riddlehoover’s New Film

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Scenes From A Gay Marriage director Matt Riddlehoover is busy putting together his new movie, and he’s now added two names from the world of the internet to the cast list, Chris Crocker & Josey Greenwell.

Crocker first found fame with his ‘leave Britney alone’ Vlog, and has since become a internet celeb, producing music, flirting with gay porn (including some very revealing photographs) and managing to gets fans and haters in equal measure. Josey Greenwell meanwhile is a singer-songwriter who got national attention when he was dropped by his Nashville-based record label because he was gay. Since then he’s continued to perform, as well as getting into modelling, Youtube vids and now the movies.

The two internet stars will appear alongside Charlie David, Enrique Sapene, and Riddlehoover in the as-yet-untitled comedy, which is slated to shoot in Georgia next year. The cast also includes Maria Conchita Alonso and Jared Allman, who appear in Riddlehoover’s upcoming releases Return to Babylon and Scenes from a Gay Marriage.

In the coming weeks, a crowd source funding campaign will be launched on IndieGoGo for the production, at which time the film’s plot will be revealed.
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Notebook Director Nick Cassavetes Compares Gay Marriage To Incest

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While support for gay causes is always welcome, there are times when it would be nice if someone could support it quietly. That’s especially true if what they’re going to say both puts their foot in their mouth and may be used by the type of bigots who devour any badly phrased comment to try and prove their point.

That’s what’s happened with Nick Cassavetes, director of The Notebook, My Sister’s Keeper and the upcoming Yellow. He seems to be in favour of gay marriage, but when saying so, he’s managed to equate it with incest, one of the favoured targets of the rabidly anti-gay (i.e., if gays can marry, it’ll lead to incest being acceptable).

Yellow partially deals with incest, and when talking to The Wrap about it, Cassavetes says, “I have no experience with incest. We started thinking about that. We had heard a few stories where brothers and sisters were completely, absolutely in love with one another. You know what? This whole movie is about judgment, and lack of it, and doing what you want.

“Who gives a shit if people judge you? I’m not saying this is an absolute but in a way, if you’re not having kids – who gives a damn? Love who you want. Isn’t that what we say? Gay marriage – love who you want? If it’s your brother or sister it’s super-weird, but if you look at it, you’re not hurting anybody except every single person who freaks out because you’re in love with one another.”

Well, when shagging your sibling, the possibility of genetic mutations if you should have any children (even accidentally), does make it rather different. We do kind of know what he means, but it’s not a particularly fair comparison as there are some very different aspects to take into consideration than gay relationships. Hopefully he can phrase it better when doing more publicity for the film.

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Cynthia Nixon Takes On Emily Dickinson For Terence Davies

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Emily Dickinson is one of America’s famous poets, although she’s never quite had as much impact over here in the UK as she has in the States. That’s a shame, as her work is wonderful, and now British director Terence Davies is hoping to bring her life on the screen, with THR reporting that he’s lined up Cynthia Nixon to play Dickinson in A Quiet Passion.

The poetess was famously reclusive, publishing only a few poems during hre lifetime. Most of her work was only found and published after her death, and as it was written just for herself, it has an intensely personal quality that’s rare. There are also rumours she was a lesbian and had a female lover, although whether this will be included in the movie isn’t known (as homosexuality has been one of the main themes of Davies work, it may well be). All THR says is that it will ‘trace Dickinson’s life from precocious schoolgirl to tortured recluse’.

“I wrote the screenplay with Cynthia in mind,” Davies says. “It was the kind of dream casting you hope for. I never, for a moment, imagined my wishes would materialize. Cynthia has such a strong feeling for the work – and now she is our Emily Dickinson. I’m over the moon.”

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Zac Efron Says He’s ‘Always Felt Embraced By The Gay Community’

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Zac Efron has given his first interview to a gay publication, with The Advocate getting that scoop ahead of the release of the High School Musical’s dancing-in-his-underpants appearance in Lee Daniel’s The Paperboy.

The actor reveals himself to be a pretty laid back character, saying about his gay fans, “I’ve always felt embraced by the gay community, and I feel incredibly grateful and honored. This is actually a very special interview for me. I’m extremely aware of the support I’ve gotten from you guys over the years, and it’s amazing that it’s taken this long to sit down and actually discuss it, but please know that it hasn’t gone unappreciated. I’m so excited to be talking to you.”

Asked when he realised he had a lot of gays fans, he says, “I really felt that support after High School Musical. I think the gay audience related to my character Troy, because it really was a story of embracing who you are, no matter how different you might be, and not being afraid to show it. That’s a universal theme for everyone, but it specifically resonated with the gay community, and I felt very proud of that.”

As for whether he’d ever play gay, he adds, “I’d never take a role just for the sake of playing gay, but I’m always looking for a role that’s challenging, different, and entails some risk, so there’s no doubt in my mind that one of those characters will be gay at some point in the future. It’s always interesting to delve into unexplored territory, and that would be a new avenue for me. I definitely wouldn’t be afraid.”

He’s also all for marriage equality, saying, “It’s an issue that affects so many people in my life — a lot of my close friends and some of the most influential people around me. I just want them all to be happy. It would make me so happy to see them able to live their lives and do what they want to do.”

Zac was also happy to be ‘eroticised’ by director Lee Daniels, who’s spoken about how he brings his gay sensibility to his film. “I’ve always just embraced Lee as a brilliant artist,” Efron says, “So I followed him blindly, trustingly, and wholeheartedly. He’s searching for beauty and truth in every scene, so I believed in him and always felt safe.

As for the scene involving him dancing in his underwear which caused a lot of swooning in the trailer for The Paperboy, he teases, “Initially, I wondered if my character would even wear underwear at all. But that would’ve been a very different movie.”

No UK release date is currently set for The Paperboy but you can watch the trailer, including Efron’s undies dance by clicking here.

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Peccadillo Gets Two Movies Into The London Film Festival

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Until fairly recently, one of the main reasons to have LGBT film festivals was because of the difficulty getting decent representation for gay movies in mainstream fests. However last year LGBT/indie specialist distributor Peccadillo had three of their movies included in the London Film Festival programme (She Monkeys, Weekend and Beauty) and this year they’ve got two more.

The 56th BFI London Film Festival, which runs October 10th-21st, will include screenings of the acclaimed Keen The Lights On from director Ira Sachs (Forty Shades of Blue), as well as Our Children, starring A Prophet’s Tahar Rahim and Niels Arestrup. It also features also a blistering performance from Emilie Dequenne (Rosetta), who took home the Un Certain Regard Best Actress prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

In Keep The Lights On, it’s 1997 and New York City is in a state of intense flux when documentary filmmaker Erik Rothman (Thure Lindhardt) first meets Paul Lucy (Zachary Booth), a handsome but closeted lawyer in the publishing field. What begins as a highly charged first encounter soon becomes something much more, and a relationship quickly develops. As the two men start building a home and life together, each continues to privately battle their own compulsions and addictions. The movie has already won the Teddy Award (for Best LGBT Film) at the Berlin Film Festival and a couple of gongs at LA’s Outfest. You can watch a trailer here, ahead of its UK cinema release on November 2nd.

Here’s the synopsis for the less explictily gay Our Children, ‘Young, effervescent and full of life, Murielle (Emilie Dequenne, Rosetta) has a promising future ahead of her when she meets and falls head over heels for the handsome Mounir (Tahar Rahim, A Prophet). A wedding soon follows, and the happy couple quickly set about preparing to make a family. However, with family comes ties, and none come so tight as that between Mounir and the mysterious Doctor Pinget (Niels Arestrup, A Prophet, Sarah’s Key), his adoptive father. As Murielle continues to bring new life into the family, in the form of four beautiful young girls, frictions between Mounir and Doctor Pinget reach boiling point. Helpless to extract her husband and children from the wealthy nest that Doctor Pinget has provided for them, Murielle is drawn deeper into an unhealthy three-way relationship. With Doctor Pinget acting as Murielle’s personal pharmacy, and Mounir taking extended trips abroad to Morocco, Murielle becomes increasingly alone and unstable. There is only one way out of this nightmare, and for Murielle, all sense of reasoning must be abandoned.’ It’ll hit UK cinemas March 2013.

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