There aren’t that many female directors, even fewer black female directors, and fewer still black female lesbian directors, so Dee Rees is a little bit special, especially considering the success she’s had with movies like Pariah and the biopic Bessie. Now though she’s planning something a little different, a horror movie about black lesbians in rural America.
She’s got some heavyweight backing too, as Jason Blum, the producer behind Paranormal Activity, The Visit, Insidious, The Normal Heart, and the recent successes, Split and Get Out, will produce the movie. The news was revealed in a New York Times piece about Blum, who met Rees in March at a Sundance Institute event and shortly after she pitched him a movie, which she relayed to him as, “You’ve got me and my wife, two black lesbians, and when we first moved in, we fought every day over all these little things: ‘Why is this over there? Did you move that?’ Maybe it was a ghost. Or maybe it was some other force – like us not wanting to be there or fitting in. Anyway, that’s my horror movie pitch.”
Blum liked the idea, and so Rees is busy working on a script, “A horror movie centred on the domestic lives of black lesbians in rural America.” She adds, “I can’t tell you how rare it is that people mean what they say in this business. He’s just letting me make the best possible version of what I want to make.”
It’s still a long way until the movie gets made, but with Blum on board she’s certainly got a good shot. She’s also preparing for the release of her latest film, Mudbound, which was a huge success at Sundance and was snapped up by Netflix. It’s about a black family and a white family living in rural Mississippi shortly after the end of the Second World War. Carey Mulligan, Mary J Blige, Garrett Hedlund, Jason Clarke and Jason Mitchell star.
On Monday we’ll be getting the first trailer for the 12 episode return on much loved sitcom Will & Grace. To whet our whistle, a brief tease of that trailer has been released, giving us our first look at Eric McCormack, Debra Messing, Megan Mullally and Sean Hayes back on set, and the clapperboard going down on a new set of adventures.
A Bigger Splash helmer Luca Guadagnino got massive plaudits and talk of a breakout hit at Sundance when his gay-themed movie Call Me By Your Name debuted. He’s also finishing up the long-gestating remake of Suspiria.
Since she became a mother, we haven’t seen quite as much of Julia Roberts as we once did. However, she’s now picked a new project she plans to star in, as 
The most successful short film collection in the world is returning at the end of the month for its 16th selection of gay treats. As always there’s a great and eclectic selection of gay-themed shorts. You can find out more about what shorts are on the disc and watch the trailer below.
Synopsis: ‘When four lifelong friends – Regina Hall, Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett Smith and Tiffany Haddish – travel to New Orleans for the annual Essence Festival, sisterhoods are rekindled, wild sides are rediscovered, and there’s enough dancing, drinking, brawling and romancing to make the Big Easy blush.’
There is a still a fear in Hollywood of getting typecast for playing gay, and that if you take more than one or two gay roles, you’ll be in a career cul-de-sac. It’s the same fear that stops a lot of famous folk from coming out – that suddenly you won’t be cast as straight characters (which of course is most roles).
It looks like things are slightly coming full circle with Cars 3. In the first movie, young hotshot Lightning McQueen teamed up with an aging auto the world has given up on, Doc Hudson, to become a true champion (and a nicer car). Now it’s Lightning who’s getting older, with newer, more powerful cars lining up to race past him.
It’s only a couple of weeks until we get to see whether the idea of rebooted 90s TV hit Baywatch as a big screen comedy vehicle for Zac Efron and Dwayne Johnson was a good idea or not. To help convince us it will be, a new Red Band trailer for the movie has arrived.
Synopsis: ‘A serial killer stalks the Limehouse streets of Victorian London in 1880, the terrified population of this squalid district of the East End believe that the “Golem”, a monster from Judaic mythology, is responsible. Inspector Kildare of Scotland Yard is handed the impossible task of solving these heinous crimes and his investigations lead him on a race across the capital from The Old Bailey, to Newgate Prison, to the music halls of London and the British Museum. His chief suspects are music hall superstar Dan Leno, political agitator Karl Marx, writer and philosopher George Gissing and journalist John Cree. Kildare believes that famed performer Little Lizzie Cree, who is almost certainly destined to hang for the poisoning of her husband, holds the key to the identity of the real Golem. Kildare must solve the case and in doing so, he believes he will save the life of Elizabeth Cree.