It's a scenario so familiar to movie goers that it's almost become a cliché: A young gay teen falls hard for his best friend and, in a moment of candor, reveals his true feelings. At first the best friend seems cool about it—flattered, even. But just as quickly the secret crush becomes public knowledge—the friendship is destroyed and the gay teen is subjected to bullying by fellow students as well as barely masked derision and misunderstanding by his teachers and school officials.
That's what writer/producer Michael Anthony experienced as a 13-year-old student growing up in the Chicago suburb of Wheeling back in the mid-'90s. Alhough the experience, as Anthony vividly recalled, was difficult—to say the least—he valiantly stayed out throughout the rest of his junior high and high school years once he was outed. He credited the support of his single mother as a determining factor in his ability to withstand the verbal abuse. "She was shocked and horrified when she found out," Anthony said during a phone interview from his home in California. "But she stood firm behind me. That's when I knew how much she loved me." Although the taunting continued to dog Anthony, soon after graduation he moved to California to attend college, leaving the threats far behind and he went on to pursue a busy career in several facets of the entertainment industry as a writer/producer/actor.
However, in 2010, a slew of gay teen suicides and the high-profile "It Gets Better" campaign spearheaded by sex columnist Dan Savage got Anthony thinking about his own emotionally devastating experience, and he created an animated video detailing it. In the video, the object of his crush, now dubbed "Darren" (not his real name), is seen in the persona of hunky Ryan Kwanten—who stars in the TV series True Blood—and Reba McEntire's songs play a major part. A coda gives an update on all the characters, including Darren, who the viewer learns later apologized to Anthony.
The uploaded video, charming and heartfelt, caused a bit of a media stir, and Anthony began receiving anonymous e-mails and letters of thanks from closeted gay teens from around the country. He was stunned and angered to learn that the homophobia he encountered 15 years before was still rampant in his hometown, as one letter signed "Billy" attested. Anthony was touched by Billy's bravery and determination to follow in his footsteps, creating a path on his own. "Please think of me as happy in the fact that your video gave someone something. It gave me hope," Billy wrote.
The letter so moved Anthony he decided to publicly announce a major detail his video about which he had lied. Darren had not apologized and soon after the incident, the two had drifted apart and had never spoken again. But during his sophomore year in college Anthony was startled to receive a phone message from a familiar voice. "Hi Michael. This is Darren. Please call me." "I made a conscious decision not to call back," Anthony said. "It was a lot to go through and I didn't want to go into it again."
Nine days later Darren killed himself.
Was Darren struggling with his sexuality? Was he calling to apologize after all those years? Was he reaching out to reconnect and possibly reveal feelings long kept under wraps? "That's part of what I hope this documentary will be able to answer," Anthony said. "I've heard such different stories from his family and his best friend and some of the people who knew him socially. None of them match. I have no idea why I got that call six years after the last time he and I spoke and I want to figure that out."
Once he revealed the not-so-rosy true ending to his tale, Anthony made a twofold decision: He would return to his hometown and try to confront the homophobia with love and understanding, in an attempt to curtail the teen bullying, and he would try to discover what had really happened to Darren, whose last years are clouded in mystery. With experience as a performer, producer, writer and event promoter, Anthony decided to add "filmmaker" to his resume and document the project on film.
Anthony's film, fittingly titled For Billy: The Movie, will begin shooting later this month when he returns to Wheeling. Anthony's return will kick off with a one-night only creative event titled "Be: the Exhibit (End Teen Bullying through Art & Activism)." The event, which will take place on Friday, March 18, at the European Crystal (519 W. Algonquin, Arlington Heights—doors at 6:30 p.m., show at 7:45 p.m.), will combine art, music and performance. Several of Anthony's friends in the entertainment business (both locally and on the West Coast) have created paintings, sculptures and songs inspired by the hundreds of anonymous letters he's received. The result, which he is dubbing an "artistic installation," will creatively address both homophobia and teen bullying. (The evening will be filmed as part of the documentary.)
Anthony will also attempt to talk with town leaders, residents and high school teens about both subjects on camera. Before he's even arrived back home, however, advance word on his documentary project has caused a stir of dissent. "The local Mormon church has let me know they're very against this—us coming and taping and talking with students," Anthony said. His own Roman Catholic parish invited him back to discuss the subject but the invitation was withdrawn, Anthony said, at the behest of the Archdiocese of Chicago. "My priest can't talk to me on camera and the archdiocese hasn't returned my calls asking for an explanation."
Further, after Anthony talked to a local press outlet to try and address complaints it asserted it had received about his project (before it had even begun filming), he suddenly found that an invitation to speak at his high school campus was withdrawn. "We had contracts signed and schedules in place but suddenly the principal felt that the school couldn't endorse it though they wished us well," Anthony said.
Anthony received subsequent e-mails from several of the teachers he had lined up who decided to cancel their participation in the documentary as well. "I don't understand why we had everything in place and four weeks before taping the plug was suddenly pulled. It's shocking, isn't it?," he asked. But Anthony, who is nothing if not upbeat, isn't a bit daunted. "We're now independently inviting students to participate in the exhibit and we're going to have a whole day where we will set up a studio and people can come in share their stories with us on camera," he said.
And what about "Billy," the young teen who wrote the moving letter to Anthony? Although he doesn't know his true identity he's hopeful that the young teen will come forward: "We don't know who he is but we hope that he'll feel comfortable enough to come forward and participate in the project—even if it's only clandestinely. We're certainly leaving that door open."
Aside from hoping to change hearts and minds and finding closure with regard to Darren, Anthony himself is ready to finally move past the defining incident for which he is oddly grateful: "When I was asked point blank when I was 13 if I was gay I thought in my head, 'If I say no I'm saying there's something wrong with it and I know there's not' so I never said no. I never lied and in a bizarre way, it made me who I am. It's taught me: if you see an injustice, open your mouth. I've let what happened to me not turn into bitterness or anger. I'm letting it fuel my passion. This project is proof of that."
Complete information on "Be: the Exhibit" and the forthcoming documentary (as well as a link to the original "It Gets Better" video) are at www.forbillythemovie.com .
Film notes:
—Chicago Filmmakers, 5243 N. Clark, is screening Slaves of Saints on Friday, March 11, at 8 p.m. The documentary, described as an "ethnographic documentary about Afro-Brazilian religions," is the culmination of 10 years of video footage compiled by out director Kelly Hayes and her writer/editor (and partner) Catherine Crouch.
Hayes, who is also associate professor of religious studies at Indiana University-Purdue University, elaborated on the documentary via -email: "The film is about spirit possession religions in Rio de Janeiro and touches on some issues that may be of interest to your readers, particularly non-normative gender expressions and how these are conceptualized in the context of a religion where spiritual beings are believed to incorporate in the bodies of their devotees. Thus, female spirits can (and do) manifest in male bodies and vice versa. As you might imagine, GLBT and others of varied gender expression are especially prominent in these religions." It sounds fascinating. Hayes and Crouch will be present for a post-screening discussion of the documentary and Hayes' companion book, Holy Harlots. See www.chicagofilmmakers.org .
—Out writer-director Todd Haynes (Poison, Velvet Goldmine, Far From Heaven, I'm Not There) will unveil his next project, the five-part miniseries adaptation of the early '40s novel Mildred Pierce, on HBO later this month. Before then you have a rare chance to see 1995's Safe, one of Haynes' most compelling (and strangely beautiful) films on the big screen Tuesday, March 15, at 6 p.m. at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State. Julianne Moore stars as an affluent suburban housewife who develops a mysterious illness—a hypersensitivity to pollution—and heads for a mystical, quasi-religious retreat to try and combat the affliction.
—Cinema Q, the free, LGBT-themed, weekly film series kicks off Wed., March 16, with a screening of Quearborn & Perversion, out filmmaker Ron Pajak's entertaining and often moving aneCDotal history of Chicago queer culture. Pajak will be present for a Q&A following the free 6:30 p.m. screening at the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington, in the Claudia Cassidy Theater. The series, focusing on queer movies made in Chicago, is a joint presentation of the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, Center on Halsted, Queer Film Society, and the Reeling Film Festival. Windy City Times is one of the series' media sponsors. www.queerfilmsociety.org
Check out my archived reviews at www.windycitymediagroup.com or www.knightatthemovies.com . Readers can leave feedback at the latter website.
