Steve Carell: The 40-Year-Old Gay Guy
Is Steve Carell getting typecast as a man who can' t get sex? In his latest feature, the recently-screened-at-Sundance comedy Little Miss Sunshine, Carell's character may not be a virgin, but he definitely gets less than his share of love. His character is a depressed gay man who helps a little girl get to Redondo Beach, Calif., in order to compete in the 'Little Miss Sunshine' child beauty pageant. Accompanying this pair in a beat-up VW van are Toni Collette and Greg Kinnear, who aren't strangers to playing queer on screen—Kinnear was a gay man in As Good as It Gets, and Collette was, well, a gay male drag queen in Connie and Carla. Carell is on a roll right now after his Golden Globe win, so expect funny business from this release later in 2006.
Lifetime Tells Gwen Araujo Story
The stories of transgendered people, both the uplifting ( Transamerica ) and tragic ( Boys Don't Cry ) , have been proliferating on the big and small screen, and now Lifetime is taking up the mantle. The cable network recently announced it will tackle the sad story—unfortunately, those are the ones that usually make news—of transgender teen Gwen Araujo, under the working title The Gwen Araujo Story. The made-for-TV movie exploring the brutal murder of the young California woman and its aftermath will star Oscar winner Mercedes Ruehl as Araujo's mother, with no casting news yet available regarding the role of Gwen. Acclaimed director Agnieszka Holland ( Europa Europa, The Secret Garden ) is set to direct, with a probable 2006 season airdate.
Living in The U.S. of Ant
It's gay comedian Ant's country; the rest of us just live in it. That's the premise behind the latest original series to be commissioned by upstart queer cable network Logo. Tentatively titled The U.S. of Ant, the reality series will star the popular one-insect-named funny man—most recently seen as the host of VH1's Celebrity Fit Club—as he travels across the United States looking for signs of gay life in mostly rural communities and small towns. The news of Ant's series follows hot on the heels of the Sundance premiere of the documentary small town gay bar, which also set out in search of thriving queer heartland residents. Is this a post-Brokeback Mountain queer trend? Romeo hopes to find out as he watches the show from the comfort of his tastefully decorated urban loft.
Fabulous Leaves the Celluloid Closet
In the early 1990s, when groundbreaking movies like Todd Haynes' Poison, Jennie Livingston's Paris Is Burning, and Tom Kalin's Swoon appeared on big screens across the country, they set off a movement that became known as New Queer Cinema, and the mainstream took notice. And in Fabulous: The Story of Queer Cinema, the people who made their mark get to speak for themselves. The documentary features directors Haynes and Livingston, as well as John Cameron Mitchell, John Waters, and Angela Robinson; actors Guinevere Turner, Alan Cumming, and Heather Matarazzo; producer Christine Vachon; and journalists Michael Musto, B. Ruby Rich, and Alonso Duralde—all waxing eloquent on the movies queer audiences are lucky to have. Premiering at this year's Berlin Film Festival, Fabulous will also take its bow on the Independent Film Channel in July.
Romeo San Vicente's picture is next to the word 'fabulous' in the dictionary. He can be reached care of this publication or at DeepInsideHollywood@qsyndicate.com .
