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 Short Film Showcase: Actresses – Two queer women negotiate the beginning of a relationship

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actresses-slideThe short film actresses has certainly had a great run at film festivals, screening at the likes of Sundance, SXSW, Frameline, Outfest and New Fest, and wining awards at the New Orleans Film Festival. Now writer/director Jeremy Hersh’s movie is online for all to see.

The movie takes a look at two women as they deal with the beginning of a relationship, juxtaposing the acting and awkwardness of situations faced by performers with the perfomance people go through as they get to know one another.

Hersh recently told Huffpo, “Starting out, the only specific comment I wanted to make was that becoming a good listener is a big part of being a good actor and a big part of having successful relationships. Other than that I just wanted to look at the beginning stages of a relationship, one which could become something more, or could go nowhere. I wanted to look at the ways in which I’ve inadvertently sabotaged the relationships I’ve been in. The main discovery we made is that sometimes in my relationships I’ve felt that I was ‘the submissive one’ and the other dude was ‘dominant’ — I’m talking about the interpersonal dynamic here, not sexual positions, which is a different, kinda boring, conversation. And through making this film I’ve realized someone who is coy and self-effacing and insecure who feels they’re being submissive (or seems that way from the outside) can actually be hyper-controlling, to an extent that can be destructive.”

Take a look at Actresses below. If you know a short film we ought to be posting, tell us by getting in touch via our contact page. And check out more gay short films and web series here.

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Matt Damon, Julianne Moore & Josh Brolin In Talks For George Clooney’s Suburbicon

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matt-damonWhen George Clooney finds someone he likes, he certainly likes to work with them over and over again. With his next directorial effort, Suburbicon, he’s working from a script by Joel and Ethan Coen, which whom he’s collaborated numerous times before, and now The Wrap says that former colleagues Matt Damon, Julianne Moore & Josh Brolin are in talks to star.

Admittedly Moore’s on-screen links to Clooney are slim, as previously he’s only executive produced Far From Heaven, which she starred in. However he’s worked with Damon numerous times, and he’s only recently finished working with Brolin in Hail Caesar! (directed by the Coens, who’ve also directed Moore and Damon).

Not much is known about the movie, as plot details are being kept under wraps. However the title suggests things are going to be getting tricky in the ‘burbs.

Whatever it’s about, with a cast like that and plenty of talent behind the camera, it should be one to look out for. There’s no studio attached as yet, but with this package it shouldn’t have difficulty finding backing and distribution. It’s believed Clooney wants to shoot the movie nest year.

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Burt Reynolds Says Charlie Sheen Is ‘Getting What He Deserves’ With HIV

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burt-reynoldsDuring an appearance on ITV’s Loose Women, screen star Burt Reynolds decided to give the world a taste of attitudes that should have long since disappeared, suggesting HIV is a punishment for bad behaviour, for Charlie Sheen at least.

Reynolds said, “His father [Martin Sheen] is a very, very decent man and a dear friend of mine, I feel bad for him. For Charlie, I don’t feel bad for him. He’s getting what he deserves… He misbehaved badly. Very badly.”

“If you’re going to misbehave like that,” he continued, “then they’re going to get you.”

The actor didn’t say who ‘they’re’ is, or indeed eactly what he thinks Sheen did that was particularly bad. It seemed especially ‘pot calling kettle black’ as Burt was on the show to talk about his memoirs that deal with his own ‘misbehaving’ and his long battle with drug addiction.

Reynolds also added of Sheen’s revealing his HIV status that, “He’s handled it badly, I think.” Although didn’t bother to say how he’s handled it badly, or whether he was suggesting he should have just kept quiet about it.

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The BFG Teaser Trailer – Steven Spielberg takes on Roald Dahl’s classic tale

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the-bfg-pic1Steven Spielberg is going back into family friendly territory with a live-action version of Roald Dahl’s classic The BFG. The teaser trailer has arrived, which gives the whole thing as slightly more spooky and mysterious vibe than fans od the book might have imagined.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘The talents of two of the world’s greatest storytellers – Roald Dahl and Steven Spielberg – finally unite to bring Dahl’s beloved classic “The BFG” to life. Directed by Spielberg, “The BFG” tells the imaginative story of a young girl and the Giant who introduces her to the wonders and perils of Giant Country. “I think it was kind of genius of Roald Dahl to be able to empower the children. It was very, very brave of him to introduce that combination of darkness and light,’ and being able to do scary, but also be redemptive at the same time and teach a lesson, an enduring lesson, to everyone, it was a wonderful thing for Dahl to have done, and it was one of the things that attracted me to want to direct this Dahl book,” says Spielberg.

‘The BFG (Mark Rylance), while a giant himself, is a Big Friendly Giant and nothing like the other inhabitants of Giant Country. Standing 24-feet tall with enormous ears and a keen sense of smell, he is endearingly dim-witted and keeps to himself for the most part. Giants like Bloodbottler (Bill Hader) and Fleshlumpeater (Jemaine Clement) on the other hand, are twice as big and at least twice as scary and have been known to eat humans, while the BFG prefers Snozzcumbers and Frobscottle. Upon her arrival in Giant Country, Sophie, a precocious 10-year-old girl from London, is initially frightened of the mysterious giant who has brought her to his cave, but soon comes to realize that the BFG is actually quite gentle and charming, and, having never met a giant before, has many questions. The BFG brings Sophie to Dream Country where he collects dreams and sends them to children, teaching her all about the magic and mystery of dreams.

‘Having both been on their own in the world up until now, their affection for one another quickly grows. But Sophie’s presence in Giant Country has attracted the unwanted attention of the other giants, who have become increasingly more bothersome. Says Spielberg, “It’s a story about friendship, it’s a story about loyalty and protecting your friends and it’s a story that shows that even a little girl can help a big giant solve his biggest problems.” Sophie and the BFG soon depart for London to see the Queen (Penelope Wilton) and warn her of the precarious giant situation, but they must first convince the Queen and her maid, Mary (Rebecca Hall), that giants do indeed exist. Together, they come up with a plan to get rid of the giants once and for all.

‘Directed by three-time Academy Award® winner Steven Spielberg (“Bridge of Spies,” “Schindler’s List,” ”Saving Private Ryan”) from a screenplay by Melissa Mathison (“E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial,” “The Black Stallion”) based on the best-selling novel by Roald Dahl, “The BFG” stars three-time Tony Award® and two-time Olivier Award winner Mark Rylance (“Bridge of Spies,” “Wolf Hall”), newcomer Ruby Barnhill, Penelope Wilton (“The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” “Downton Abbey”), Jemaine Clement (“Rio 2,” “The Flight of the Conchords”), Rebecca Hall (“The Gift,” “Iron Man 3”), Rafe Spall (“The Big Short,” “Prometheus”) and Bill Hader (“Inside Out,” “Trainwreck”). The film is produced by Spielberg, Frank Marshall (“Jurassic World,” “The Bourne Ultimatum”) and Sam Mercer (“Snow White and the Huntsman,” “The Sixth Sense”) with Kathleen Kennedy (“Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” “Lincoln”), John Madden (“The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” “Shakespeare in Love”), Kristie Macosko Krieger (“Bridge of Spies,” “Lincoln”), Michael Siegel (“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “Rise of the Guardians”), Frank Smith and Naia Cucukov serving as executive producers.

‘Roald Dahl’s “The BFG” (Big Friendly Giant) was first published in 1982 and has been enchanting readers of all ages ever since. Dahl’s books, which also include “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “James and the Giant Peach” and “Matilda,” are currently available in 58 languages and have sold over 200 million copies worldwide. “The BFG” is the only book of Dahl’s that has never been adapted into a feature film. Originally created as a bedtime story, “The BFG” was Dahl’s own favourite of all his stories. “It was very important for us to be loyal to the language,” says Spielberg, “and the great writer Melissa Mathison, who also wrote ‘E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial,’ wrote “The BFG.”

“The BFG” opens in cinemas on July 22nd 2016, the year that marks the 100th anniversary of Dahl’s birth.’ [Read more…]

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First Look At (A Shirtless & Ripped) Alexander Skargsard & Margot Robbie In Tarzan

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tarzan-poster1-slideDavid Yates is a ridiculously busy man. He’s currently shoot the very complex and big budget Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beast & Where To Find Them and simultaneously working on post-production on the the very complex and big budget Tarzan. Warner, which is backing both movies, reckons he can do both, but it’s a lot of work for one man to take on.

However with Tarzan coming out first, we’ve now got our first look at Alexander Skarsgard in the title role, alongside Margot Robbie as Jane. There’s no doubt that Skarsgard spent a lot of time in the gym for this one – indeed he had to go on a four month diet and exercise regimen before filming began.

As well as debuting the pics, USA Today quotes Skarsgard as saying on the movie, “This is about a man who’s holding back and slowly as you peel off the layers, he reverts back to a more animalistic state and lets that side of his personality out.”

However, Yates wants to point it it’s not just about the guy, as Jane is “in no way a passive partner to Tarzan. She’s a really strong, assertive, beautifully knowledgeable, very sexy modern woman who can more than look after herself… In a way, it’s a story of two human beings and how they save each other.”

Take a look at the pics below. Tarzan will be in cinemas next summer.

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MTV’s True Life ‘I’m a Gay For Pay Porn Star’ Trailer – Why do straight guys do gay porn?

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im-a-gay-porn-star-slideWhy would a straight guy do gay porn? It’s a question that seems to have a few obvious answers, from the fact the pay is better to some of the performers being more bicurious than they might initially admit. However they can be plenty of other reasons too.

MTV’s True Life is planning to look into the phenomena with the upcoming ‘I’m a Gay For Pay Porn Star’, which has just released a sneak peak trailer. As the synopsis says, ‘They’re rising stars in the gay porn industry, but will the pressures of every day life force them to reconsider their lucrative careers?’

The programme looks at people such as Luke, who thought he’d be able to keep his gay porn life a secret from his girlfriend, and the married Ben, who got into having sex with men on screen two support his family. It looks like it could be an interesting show, which debuts in the US soon.

If it’s a subject you’re interested, it’s also worth taking a look at the similar documentary I’m A Porn Star.

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Anne & Jake: Episodes 1-4 – Matt Dallas invents time-travel while in his underwear

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anne-and-jake2It turns out Kyle XY star Matt Dallas does have a belly button, and if you’d like some proof, check out the first episode of the new web series Anne & Jake, which sees Matt wearing only his undies for the entire running time. There seems to be no reason he isn’t forgotten to put any clothes on, other than that it’s a very nice sight to behold.

We’re just glad Matt’s not insisting the only person who should see him in such states of near nakedness is his hubby, Blue Valentine.

The show brings together sci-fi and period drama, with Matt as a barely-clothed genius who’s on the verge of figuring out time travel. However that’s not good enough for his girlfriend, who’s unimpressed with his antics. Meanwhile in Jane Austen times, Anne (Victoria Bullock) is a headstrong young woman who doesn’t want to marry any of the dull bunch of suitors her family have lined up for her. By the end of the first episode these two very different worlds have collided and Anne and Jake find themself brought together.

Bullock says of the show, “I hope people take away from the series that it’s okay if you don’t fit in and everyone finds a place. The crux of the story is about ‘belonging,’ for both of them.”

Dallas adds, “Anybody who has ever felt like they wanted something different than what was expected of them is really going to love this show.”

Four episodes have been released so far. Unfortunately Matt Dallas does put on some clothes in later episodes, but they’re still fun to watch. Enjoy. (And thanks to Towleroad for the tip)

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X-Men’s Shawn Ashmore ‘Open’ To Playing A Gay Iceman On Screen

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iceman-shawn-ashmoreShortly after it was revealed that Marvel comics was revealing that the long-running X-Men character Iceman was gay, the actor who played him on-screen, Shawn Ashmore, welcomed the news. Now he’s been talking to IGN, and suggests he’d be very interested to see how they could bring that to the movie version of the character.

He says: “Obviously the comics and movies are separate. I wonder what the transition would be because we’ve sort of established Bobby as having a love interest in Rogue and having a love interest in sort of Kitty Pryde, but I think it’d be really interesting.

“I think it’d probably be the most interesting thing that could happen to Bobby in the films. If they decided to take the story that way, it’d be incredibly dramatic, it’d be an interesting storyline, and it would give Bobby a great character arc. I’d definitely be open to that, but again, I’m not sure if they want to take the character in that direction. I have no idea how they would play that out. I think it’d be very interesting.”

His twin brother, Aaron, has already played a long-running gay character in the sci-fi show Warehouse 13, so perhaps Shawn feels like he’s missing out. At the moment it’s not even known whether we’ll see Shawn on screen as Iceman again, as while he was in Days Of Future Past, the currently announced movies either go back into the past, such as the 1980s set X-Men: Apocalypse, or explore other characters, such as Deadpool, Gambit and Wolverine.

The movies have long flirted with gay themes metaphorically (such as Ben Foster’s Angel in X-Men 3) without ever actually having a properly queer character, so it would be good if they can bring one into the mutant screen universe somewhere.

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Screenwriter Justin Theroux Says Zoolander 2 Transphobia Controversy ‘Hurts My Feelings’

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justin-therouxWhen the much-anticipated trailer for Zoolander 2 debuted it was immediately hit with a firestorm of controversy due to an androgynous, genderfluid character called All, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, and the transphobic jokes hurled at them by Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson’s Derek and Hansel.

However Justin Theroux, who wrote for the script for the film, has stepped forward to say that wasn’t his intention at all, and that it was taken out of context.

He told TheWrap, “Our target is not, and never was, to disenfranchise anyone… I don’t even know what to make of it, because it hurts my feelings in a way. I take great care in the jokes I write, and the umbrage being taken is out of the context of the scene. I wish people would see the movie first. Satire is a thing that points out the idiots, and we went through it on ‘Tropic Thunder’ with the ‘R’ word [referring to the movie’s use of the word ‘retard’].”

Theroux adds, “The goal was not to mock or be cruel to the mentally challenged, but exalt in the stupidity of people who use that word. I’m all for letting words be ugly when the target is correct. With social media and all the rest of it, people’s issues need to be heard… at the end of the day people are looking for bandwidth. People are looking for places to inject their voice. But our target is not, and never was, to disenfranchise anyone.”

While there is a chance things have been taken out of context, in the trailer All and their gender identity is definitely the butt of the joke, with the brief appearance of the character making them seem slightly self-important and ridiculous.

Soon after the trailer debuted an online petition was launched, calling for a boycott of the movie both due to the seemingly ‘over-the-top, cartoonish mockery of androgyne/trans/non-binary individuals’ and the choice of casting a cisgender actor in the role, comparing it to blackface.

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Benedict Cumberbatch To Star In World War II Movie The War Magician

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Benedict-CumberbatchBenedict Cumberbatch is currently on set at the start of filming Marvel’s Doctor Strange, but he’s also looking towards the future and a different kind of magic, as he is attached to star in The War Magician, according to THR.

The film will see him take on another relatively unsung hero of World War II (after Alan Turing in The Imitation Game) who helped win the conflict in ways that didn’t involve conventional weapons, playing Jasper Maskelyne, who ‘put together a rag‐tag “dirty dozen” of accomplices dubbed “The Magic Gang” who used illusion tricks to hide strategic targets such as the Alexandria harbor, the Suez Canal, in the process concealing 150,000 men with 1,000 guns and tanks…

‘The illusions helped turn the tide of the war against General Rommel and the Germans in North Africa, leading up to the Battle of El Alamein. The announcement states that Maskelyne’s techniques were so effective that Adolf Hitler added him to his personal blacklist alongside men like Douglas MacArthur and British Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery who, if captured alive, were to receive “special” treatment by the Nazis.’

Book Of Eli’s Garry Whitta is writing the screenplay, although the project hasn’t found a director as yet. It’s not clear when we might get to see the movie, although it appears to be some way off.

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Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny Trailer – Michelle Yeoh returns to play Yu Shu-Lien

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crouching-tiger-2-teaser-poster15 years ago Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon became a bit of a phenomenon, winning four Oscars and becoming the highest-grossing foreign language movie ever at the time. Now we’re going back into that world for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny, which will debut simultaneously in cinemas and via Netflix in many territories.

Admittedly the film does look like it’s going to be a bit of a late cash-in, but the trailer shows there’ll be plenty more wire-fu action (and quite a lot of CGI), as we return to a fantastical version of ancient China. Michelle Yeoh also returns to play Yu Shu-Lien, with Donnie Yen playing Silent Wolf.

The film does have some obstacles, as some cinemas in the US have already refused to show it due to the fact Netflix subscribers will be able to see it the same day, but it’s believed the streaming service paid a lot of money for the privilege.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny tells an epic story of lost love, young love, a legendary sword and one last opportunity at redemption, set against breathtaking action in an epic martial arts battle between good and evil that will decide the fate of the Martial World.

‘Directed by the renowned martial arts choreographer (The Matrix Trilogy and Kill Bill 1& 2) and director (Tai Chi Master) Yuen Wo-Ping, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny stars Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Lady) as Yu Shu-Lien and Donnie Yen (Ip Man 1&2, Monkey King 3D) as Silent Wolf.

‘Based on the acclaimed novel, Iron Knight, Silver Vase, by Wang Dulu (book 5 in the Crane-Iron Pentalogy) and written by John Fusco (Marco Polo) the new film is produced by Harvey Weinstein (Academy Award winner – The King’s Speech, The Artist) and Peter Berg (Emmy Award winner – Friday Night Lights; Lone Survivor, Hancock) and Sarah Aubrey (Friday Night Lights; Lone Survivor, Hancock) and executive produced by Morten Tyldum (Headhunters, The Imitation Game), Ralph Winter (X-Men franchise), Anthony Wong and Bey Logan (The Medallion).’

It’ll be out early next year. [Read more…]

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Pixels (Blu-ray Review)

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Things have gone crazy with the world in Pixels. For a start we’re supposed to believe the American people have voted Kevin James to be their President, and also that if the POTUS is your bestie, you’re still going to have to work as a home entertainment installer. If that doesn’t suggest things are bad enough, the world is suddenly attacked by aliens whose army takes the form of 1980s 8-bit video game characters – from Centipede to Space Invaders – and starts destroying things by pixelating them.

The military can’t defeat them as they don’t know the rules of the games, so it’s down to Brenner (Adam Sandler), Ludlow (Josh Gad) and the arrogant and unstable Eddie (Peter Dinklage) – who were videogame champions when they were kids in the 80s – to take down the unusual invaders. [Read more…]