Cho Hits the Road
Margaret Cho has made a name for herself with her concert films, but her next movie will actually be a scripted feature. Cho will star in Bam Bam and Celeste, a road-trip comedy about a Korean-American woman traveling to New York with her best friend, a Black gay man, to open a beauty salon. OK, so it's not exactly an acting stretch, but Cho is writing the script as well. Bam Bam is being produced by the newly minted, New York-based Salty Pictures, co-founded by Eva Kolodner, who produced Boys Don't Cry. Lorene Machado, who produced I'm the One That I Want and directed Notorious C.H.O., will make her narrative-film directing debut.
More about Moore
Julianne Moore is the sort of riveting actor who could have made even Glitter complex and compelling. Last year's double Oscar nominee and preferred muse of queer director Todd Haynes is continuing to choose dark, edgy roles—one of her next projects is Freedomland, in preproduction with openly gay (and notoriously feared) producer Scott Rudin. The film is based on the 1998 Richard Price novel of the same name, a fictional take on the notorious Susan Smith child-murder case. The story involves a white woman who tries to cover up her daughter's death by claiming the child was abducted by an African-American man. Morgan Freeman is signed to co-star, and Michael Winterbottom (24 Hour Party People) will direct when filming begins in September. Look for a 2004 release and probably more Moore nominations after that.
Oh So Trendy
I'm pretty sure he didn't get a letter of recommendation from Anna Nicole Smith, but it looks like overly fabulous interior designer Bobby Trendy may be getting his own reality show. With the help of Weller Grossman Productions, Trendy, the breakout star of The Anna Nicole Show, is shopping around a series in which he'll interact with regular folks looking to solve their decorating problems. Trendy told The Hollywood Reporter that his philosophy of decorating is to 'go over the top and have fun with our spaces.' The show would also take viewers behind the scenes in Trendy's personal life to see what makes him tick. Weller Grossman is no stranger to reality TV or to sissy designers; the team produced Christopher Lowell's first show for the Discovery Channel years ago.
What's the Deal with Allison Janney?
Fans of the strong, sharp-tongued C.J. Cregg on The West Wing will get their next fix of statuesque Allison Janney when she appears this July in the feature film How to Deal. In the romantic drama—based on two young-adult novels by Sarah Dessen—Janney plays the divorced single mom of Mandy Moore (A Walk to Remember), while Peter Gallagher, Janney's co-star in American Beauty, portrays her ex. Appearing opposite the perky teen-pop star can only add to the queer following Janney picked up co-starring in gay-themed movies like The Object of My Affection and The Hours. And it's not like she isn't aware of the attention; Janney once told The Advocate, 'A lot of people think I'm gay because I'm tall and I'm not married.'
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