THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

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Jennifer Hudson Flies with Winged Creatures

Getting cast in Dreamgirls by gay director Bill Condon put queer-icon-in-the-making Jennifer Hudson in the rarefied company of Beyonce and Eddie Murphy, but winning the Oscar has elevated her to a co-starring role opposite fellow Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker. The two have signed for Winged Creatures, a drama about a group of people who witness a brutal murder-suicide in a fast-food restaurant and how they go about recovering from the incident. Directed by Australian Rowan Woods, Creatures boasts a top-notch cast; in addition to Hudson and Whitaker, the film features Oscar nominee Jackie Earle Haley, Kate Beckinsale, Dakota Fanning, Embeth Davidtz, Jeanne Tripplehorn, and Troy Garity ( Soldier's Girl ) . Currently shooting in Los Angeles, Winged Creatures should swoop into theaters in 2008.

Spider-Man Swings on Broadway

It seems like an unorthodox idea for a Broadway musical, but if the Great White Way can handle singing cats and a facially disfigured guy on a chandelier, why not your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man? Visionary director Julie Taymor—who created Broadway's The Lion King—is currently casting Spider-Man: The Musical, which will pit our favorite radioactive wall-crawler against the Green Goblin, with words and music by U2's Bono and The Edge. The last major attempt to conquer Broadway with a major comic-book character was the flop 1966 musical It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman!, but with three hit Spider-Man movies and such a talented crew, this musical just might envelop musical-lovers in its web when it opens on a date to be determined later.

Rufus Wainwright Embraces Darkness

Not a lot of people saw gay troubadour Rufus Wainwright's big-screen acting debut in the queer melodrama Heights, but he's taking to the screen again in The Age of Darkness, directed by fellow Canadian Denys Arcand. The film is said to be a follow-up to Arcand's Oscar-nominated The Decline of the American Empire and The Barbarian Invasions, creating a trilogy about a group of intellectual friends and how they cope with a changing world. Also starring Diane Kruger ( Troy ) , Darkness had been slated to premiere as the closing night offering at the Cannes Film Festival in May, but editing was delayed due to Arcand's recent shoulder surgery. The film is set to open in Canada ( and possibly the United States as well ) in December.

Remember Fame's Name

Can it really have been 27 years since Irene Cara sang 'I'm gonna live forever' in Fame? Now comes word that a new version of Fame is in the pipeline, designed to appeal to today's teens who have decided that legwarmers are cool and retro. Producers won't say which songs from the original hit movie will make it into the remake—Romeo has five bucks on 'Out Here on My Own,' but worries about his beloved 'Hot Lunch Jam.' One would hope that the film's gay quotient will get a much-needed boost this time around, since the 1980 Fame tried to convince us that a performing-arts high school in New York City had but one queer student. Maybe the slated-for-2008 remake will put the 'fey' in Fame, where it belongs.

Romeo San Vicente has helped many dancers out of their leg warmers. He can be reached care of this publication or at DeepInsideHollywood@qsyndicate.com .