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

Jessica Biel is going to England for her next role, but she won't be required to fake a British accent. In Easy Virtue, she'll play an American woman who travels to France, meets an Englishman, marries him, and then has to return with him to the U.K. to meet his parents. Ben Barnes will play the husband, and Colin Firth and Kristin Scott Thomas star as mom and dad. And as hetero as it all sounds, it has queer roots. The film is based on the play by Noel Coward ( brought to the screen by Alfred Hitchcock in 1928 ) , and Stephan Elliott, gay director of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, will helm the project. Shooting is underway in London for a late 2008 release.

Big Hugs for Penelope Cruz

Having already worked together on three acclaimed films, Live Flesh, All About My Mother, and Volver, gay director Pedro Almodovar and his muse, Penelope Cruz, seem to be the peanut butter and jelly of Spanish cinema. And though they'd planned on a fourth venture, a revenge drama called The Skin I'm In, it's now been back-burnered in favor of a noir called Broken Hugs. Weird name for a noir, perhaps, but it sounds great as Abrazos Rotos, the Spanish title. Plot details are still in the hushed-up stage, yet the drama is, according to Almodovar, the longest script he's ever written. No matter the eventual running time, there's no reason to expect that the fourth collaboration—due out sometime in 2009—won't be as charmed as the first three.

Here Wants More Lesbian Sex

There's more to lesbians than what you see on The L Word, the show that seems to spend its entire clothing budget on Marc Jacobs tops. How about a dose of lesbian reality? That's where Here TV's documentary series, the plainly titled Lesbian Sex and Sexuality, steps in. The show spent its first season hanging out with lesbian academics in sex-toy shops, but for the recently greenlighted second season, the party is on, as the filmmakers travel to the Dinah Shore Weekend ( or 'The Dinah,' as it's known ) , the hugely popular annual lesbian event in Palm Springs. What better way, outside of actually attending, to see how real-life queer girls hook up? The answers will unfold this summer.

The Buzz on Queen Latifah and Jennifer Hudson

Blame her truly convincing portrayal of a butch bank robber in Set It Off or the lesbian prison matron in Chicago, or blame the tabloids for running endless photos of her in the company of her female trainer, then printing stories of an impending lesbian union, but Queen Latifah has definitely entered the 'is she or isn't she' phase of her career. No matter what the truth is, the talented actor remains a subject of fascination for gay audiences. And now she's teaming up with Jennifer Hudson, a recent addition to the gay diva-worship camp, for the film The Secret Life of Bees. Along with Sophie Okonedo, they'll star as three siblings who adopt a little girl ( played by Dakota Fanning ) . The period drama ( and potential weepie ) is shooting now for a 2009 release, so fans have plenty of time to stock up on travel-size packets of tissue.

Romeo San Vicente has enjoyed the professional services of many personal trainers, but always outside the gym. He can be reached care of this publication or at DeepInsideHollywood@qsyndicate.com .