Rosie O'Donnell's Nip/Tuck
Character Gets Spin-Off
Looks like the Queen of Nice is becoming the Queen of All Media. Rosie O'Donnell, whose presence on The View has boosted ratings for the morning yakety-yak show, has announced that she'll be shooting a pilot for a new nighttime series about Dawn Budge, the lottery winner she played on Nip/Tuck. ( In that episode, she paid hunky surgeon Julian McMahon $100,000 to service her. ) The producers of that show—including creator Ryan Murphy ( Running with Scissors ) —were so taken with their guest star that they immediately made a deal to give Rosie her own show. Expectations are high for the Dawn Budge pilot—so much so that it's rumored Nicole Kidman wants to make her American TV debut as a guest star.
T.R. Knight Makes A Last Request
Romeo would like to salute Grey's Anatomy cutie T.R. Knight for coming out as a gay man—would that more of his closeted Hollywood peers had the guts to do likewise. And perhaps all the media attention Knight's received for his courageous act will be good for his next project, the indie comedy A Last Request, written and directed by John DeBellis. Currently searching for a distributor, the movie stars Danny Aiello as a dying paterfamilias who wants his kids to deliver unto him a grandson before he kicks the bucket. Also starring are throaty-voiced sexpot Barbara Feldon ( ask your parents about Get Smart, if her name doesn't ring a bell ) and Saturday Night Live casualty Joe Piscopo.
Alan Ball's All That on the New York Stage
He won an Oscar for American Beauty and made us all love morticians with Six Feet Under, but now gay writer Alan Ball is heading back to his roots with a new play. All That I Will Ever Be, an L.A. story viewed through the eyes of a Southern California native and a Middle Eastern immigrant, will have its world premiere in January 2007 at the New York Theatre Workshop. Peter Macdissi—who played horny bisexual art professor Olivier on SFU—plays the latter, and the cast will also include character actor Stuart Margolin ( The Rockford Files ) and stage vets Austin Lysy and Patch Darragh, under the direction of Jo Bonney, whose revival of Eric Bogosian's subUrbia is currently one of New York's hottest tickets.
Heather Matarazzo Knows The Rules
Super-cool lesbian actress Heather Matarazzo ( The Princess Diaries, Saved! ) is attached to a half-hour sitcom pilot—think The L Word, only intentionally funny—called The Rules: A Lesbian Survival Guide. Sheryl Lee Ralph ( star of Dreamgirls on Broadway in the '70s ) will also appear on the show, directed by out director Lee Friedlander and based on her very funny festival-fave short film The Ten Rules ( A Lesbian Survival Guide ) . Friedlander's feature-length lesbian romantic comedy Girl Play was also a festival hit, taking home three awards from the 2004 Outfest in Los Angeles. Plus, Curve magazine voted her one of Hollywood's Most Powerful Women, so look out. The Rules is currently in development at Logo, which could certainly use a female counterpart to Noah's Arc.
Romeo San Vicente loves men, but would rather hang out with lesbians. He can be reached at DeepInsideHollywood@qsyndicate.com .