Mrs. Doubtfire
Strikes Back
She exposed her true identity at the end of the first film, but that's not stopping Euphegenia Doubtfire from planning a return to multiplex screens. Robin Williams is in early talks to step back inside the Big Beautiful Woman padding and grandmotherly wig, reprising his role as the Scottish nanny in a sequel to the 1993 hit Mrs. Doubtfire. That film, about a divorced San Francisco dad who disguises himself as a woman to gain access to his children, grossed over $200 million and assisted in further mainstreaming the idea of drag. As it stands now, Williams is set to co-produce the picture with his wife, Marsha Williams, with Bonnie Hunt ( Life with Bonnie ) in talks to write the script. One question, though: Romeo wants to know who's left in San Francisco that can't spot a man in drag at 50 paces?
Clive Barker Spreads the Plague
Clive Barker must have a really busy personal assistant. The queer author-filmmaker has so many projects happening at once, it's a wonder he has time left to think up more dark, twisted ideas. He's still working on writing and directing duties for the Universal feature Tortured Souls, the film based on his line of horrifying action figures; he's producing Dread for 20th Century Fox, a feature based on his own short story; and he's co-producing the horror film Plague in collaboration between Armada Pictures and his own company, Midnight Picture Show. The movie starts shooting in February with director Hal Masonberg. Plague involves a future cataclysm that leaves the world's children in comas. Then they wake up and attack their parents. In other words, it's The Bad Seed times a billion.
The Resurrection of Edie Sedgwick
She was the most famous and glamorous member of Andy Warhol's Factory superstar scene, and she cemented her pop culture immortality by dying young. But the story of model and Chelsea Girls star Edie Sedgwick hasn't been immortalized on film in anything other than the bizarre 1972 'documentary,' Ciao! Manhattan, until now. Sienna Miller ( co-star of Alfie, opposite her real-life leading man, Jude Law ) has signed on to play the doomed Sedgwick in the feature Factory Girl. George Hickenlooper, whose credits include the recent acclaimed documentary The Mayor of the Sunset Strip, will direct from a script by Captain Mauzner ( Wonderland ) . Now Edie's famous-for-being-famous legend can live on as something other than a hip T-shirt decal.
Will & Grace Team Sires Kings
Now that the Friends have all gone their separate ways, Will & Grace may be getting some new neighbors. Will & Grace creators Max Mutchnik and David Kohan have a new project in the works at NBC called Kings of New York, which hopes to repeat the team's earlier Emmy- and ratings-winning sitcom success. Kings will revolve around four New York City characters who've been friends since childhood. Nothing more is known about these characters or the show's premise at the moment, but what is known is that, in typical Hollywood fashion, the deal between Mutchnik, Kohan, and NBC has come along even as the various parties are all busy suing each other over things monetary.
There's no business like show business—for the lawyers anyway.
Wonderfalls Creator
Has New Assistants
Romeo wept a tear for quirky, quality television when Fox cancelled the little-seen but much-loved Wonderfalls. But queer co-creator Bryan Fuller has a new idea in his slightly warped creative mind, and NBC liked it enough to commit to a pilot titled The Assistants. The comedy will follow the ups and downs of a group of executive assistants who all work in the same building, but for different employers. Think The Office or The Apprentice, but with even more insufferable bosses and disgruntled employees. Gay filmmaker Adam Shankman ( Bringing Down the House ) will executive produce the show along with Fuller and Jennifer Gibgot ( The Wedding Planner ) . Romeo's crossing his fingers for this one.
Singing in the Gardens
When Albert and David Maysles pointed their documentary cameras at Edith Bouvier Beale and her daughter Edie Jr.—distant relatives of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis—they couldn't have known that the crazily beloved ( and sort of just plain crazy ) mother-daughter team of Grey Gardens ( 1975 ) would inspire the lasting cinematic devotion they have. But now, nearly 30 years after that film appeared, gay author Doug Wright ( I Am My Own Wife, Quills ) is bringing a musical version of the Bouviers' story to the stage. Grey Gardens will feature music by Scott Frankel and Michael Korie and is being directed by Michael Greif ( Rent ) .
Currently being worked on at the Sundance Institute Theatre Laboratory, the song-filled tribute to the pair's odd life of old money and weird habits will hopefully make it past the workshop phase and onto stages in due time. Somewhere, the Edies must be smiling.
